


Bitty Hunt

by Rnd_Injustice



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bitty reader, F/M, Female Reader, Gen, Pranks, Reader-Insert, Reverse Harem, Surface timeline, readerxeveryone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-01-27 20:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 241,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12590324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rnd_Injustice/pseuds/Rnd_Injustice
Summary: What happens when a group of skeleton monsters move into a house that is owned by a bitty landlady who doesn't want them there?Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady? Meet Mouse Hunt





	1. First impressions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9816140) by [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/pseuds/Tyrant_Tortoise). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so we meet again, potential buyers.

Y/n looked down at Sara leading a bunch of skeleton monsters into her property’s front yard. From here, Y/n couldn’t hear what Sara was saying, but experience told her it was the normal retail spiel.

 _‘Not’_ , thought Y/n, _‘that she is my retail agent.’_

Y/n glared down at the whole group, hand toying with the egg placed precariously on the attic window’s ledge, looking and waiting for the perfect target and moment. She should have been surprised to see monsters looking at her house (Sara and her bosses weren’t the biggest fans of monsters) and even a little bit smug that she had driven the company to finally consider selling to them, but all she felt was the continued frustration at this whole situation. She took solace that all she needed to do was to get at least one of them to refuse to move in.

_‘How hard can that be?’_

She watched as Sara and the monsters approached the front door, Sara gesturing to the house and yard while the monsters passively followed.

“And here we have the front door, original design from the 18th century and crafted from-“

“OH MY GOD! WE GET IT! IT’S AN OLD DOOR. WHO CARES? ARE YOU GOING TO SHOW US INSIDE OR ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP BLABBERING ABOUT HOW DECRYPTED THIS PLACE IS?”

_‘Target acquired.’_

While Sara was still stumbling through her response, Y/n walked behind the egg and began to push it towards and off the ledge.

*……………………Crack!*

“WHAT TH!-IS THIS A-! WHO THE HELL THREW AN EGG AT ME?!! NO! NO, I WILL NOT ‘CALM DOWN’! I WANT WHOEVER THREW THIS EGG’S HEAD ON A PIKE!!”

Victory pump in the air, Y/n watched as the tall, edgy skeleton she had hit was restrained and shushed by the others, before she jumped off the ledge and headed towards the ventilation shaft, picking up her makeshift backpack filled with various bits and bobs on the way. She knew the ventilation system well enough to know which one leads to her front door, where she needed to be to scope out her next target.

She watched from the front door ventilation’s shadow as Sara opened the door, apologising profusely to a tall, edgy looking skeleton, seething and dripping yolk.

“I-I'm so sorry sir. T-there’s a bathroom, just down the hall where you can-“

The tall skeleton pushed past Sara, striding towards the general directing of the bathrooms. Sara, to her credit, remained calm and sweetly professional as she turned to face the rest of the skeletons.

A short skeleton in a blue hood winked at Sara, “don’t worry about edge, you don’t need to be walking on _eggshells_ around us, he’s just a bit _egg_ -aggerated.”

A tall, lanky skeleton in an orange hoodie snorted while the shorter, edgy-looking skeleton in a black, fur-lined hoodie stifled a laugh, which he turned into a cough. A tall skeleton wearing a red scarf wrapped around his neck grasped his head in dismay, groaning alongside a short skeleton wearing a blue bandana tied around his.

“REALLY SANS? AN EGG PUN? WHY?”

“but they’re _egg_ -celent and i've got about _a dozen_ of them.”

“SANS!”

Y/n chuckled; the pair of monsters reminding her of herself and her younger brother, whom she also liked to tormented. She thought she saw the blue hoodie skeleton ( _'Named Sans, apparently.'_ ) flick his eye lights at her vent, but thought nothing of it. Soon, they would all know about her and just how unwelcome they were in her house.

“UM, WHAT’S THAT?”

Sara turned from the short skeleton in the blue bandana to see a note twirling in the middle of the room, suspended from fishing line. Y/n remembered what a pain it had been to get it there, let alone writing it with stationery that was never meant for her size.

“IT SAYS ‘GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, OR ELSE’.”

The tall skeleton in the red scarf looked to Sara, confusion plain on his face ( _'Skull?'_ ).

“DOES THIS HOUSE ALREADY BELONG TO SOMEONE, RETAIL LADY?”

Sara ripped the note down, crushing it before dumping it into her handbag. She laughed nervously. “O-of course not. The neighbour kids have obviously broken in and placed this here as some sort of a joke.”

“obviously.”, remarked the tall lanky skeleton in an orange hoodie.

Y/n knew that Sara would do that ( _'as she always does.'_ ), but it was still worth the effort to at least try to warn the potential ‘buyers’ before she started to attack them. What was happening to her was, by far, unfair, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t understand the position Sara was in, or indeed any potential buyer. It was Sara's bosses and the larger government that had forced them all to be here today. What she wouldn’t give to know where to send herself to get some well-deserved payback.

Sara invited the skeletons to wander around the rooms, encouraging them to ask any questions. Y/n watched as the tall lanky skeleton and the short edgy skeleton head off towards the living room, the skeleton with the red scarf and the short skeleton with the blue bandana head towards the kitchen while Sans remained with Sara.

“so…the price also includes all this furniture?”

Sara smile seemed strained as she nodded.

“Yes, this house is fully furnished, with a fully supplied kitchen, a spacious basement and attic, living room, dining room and six furnished bedrooms.” She indicated towards the staircase, “Would you like a tour?”

“nah, seems like a lot of effort.”

Sara’s smile twitched. “O-okay then.” She cleared her throat, “Perhaps there’s something else I can show you?”

“i’d like to see the basement”, Sans supplied.

“Great, let me show you where it is.”

Y/n watched the two head off, knowing that she shouldn’t follow. There were no air vents down there and it was too risky to travel in the open. Instead, she made her way through the vent system till she arrived in the living room.

Y/n saw the lanky skeleton across the room, browsing her movie and game collection, while the short edgy skeleton had crashed on the couch, his head resting on the backrest while looking at the ceiling.

“so…got somethin' to confess ashtray?”

The lanky skeleton shrugged, still facing the shelves. “whoever owns this place has a bigger game collection than me?”

The edgy skeleton sat up, glaring at the lanky skeleton. “try again.”

The lanky skeleton finally turned, his hands deep in his hoodie's pockets. “don’t know what to tell you red.”

The edgy skeleton ( _'red…really?'_ ) scoffed, “sure, and i’m just to suppose to believe that you just happened to step out of the way as an egg just ‘magically’ appeared outta thin air.” Red shrugged, relaxing back into the sofa. “hate ter see something like that happn' to blue.”

The lanky skeleton glared at Red’s smirking form, while Y/n’s hands tighten at the idle threat. She had no clue who or what ‘blue’ was, but she knew a threat when she heard them and she. Did. Not. Like. Threats.

While Y/n pulled off her bag and dug around inside it, lanky skeleton spoke, “maybe that retail lady did it. you know, if you want to blame another random person?”

Red laughed, “that chicken shit racist? nah, she wouldn’t have the guts to try.”

“maybe it was whoever owns this house?”

“pfft, yeah right. you’d like if there just happened to be someone else to-“

*Splat*

“what the-?”

Red raised a hand to the back of his skull, feeling the ward of crewed up paper sticking there. He stared at it for a few seconds, disbelief and confusing plain on his face, before the lanky skeleton snickered loudly.

“you’re dead stretch.”

Stretch ( _'what was with these names?'_ ) struggled (and failed) to keep a smile off his face, placing a hand on his chest, the picture of mock innocence. Y/n, meanwhile, tore off another piece of paper, aiming the empty pen tube again.

“red, i would never-“

*Splat*

Stretch and Red lost it. While Stretch clutched at his sides in a fit of laughter, one of Red’s eyes blazed red, an array of sharp, red bones aimed at the guffawing skeleton. Sensing his immediate danger, Stretch straightened his hands out in an attempt to placate Red’s anger.

Then suddenly, “red! what’s that behind you?”, cried Stretch, with a wild point over Red’s shoulder.

With poor timing, Y/n let loose the next spitball, which Red just barely managed to dodge as he turned to look behind him.

Y/n pressed herself down to the ground, heart hammering.

_'What crap timing!'_

She hoped that Red would just keep assuming it was Stretch. Still, it wasn’t worth the risk, and Red was plenty pissed off now, time to leave.

While Y/n slowly packed away her supplies back into her bag, she could hear Red cursing under his breath “asshole” before silence. Wondering what Red or Stretch might be doing, but not risking the look, she carefully tied her bag up, but before she had the chance to shoulder on the bag and leave, she was suddenly bathed in a red light. With a wild shriek, Y/n turned and fell to the floor, backing herself against the vent’s bars. Before her was a fanged, dog-shaped-like skull with glowing red eyes, tracking her every movement.

The dog skull moved closer, a soft growl emanating from it. Fully panicking, Y/n placed her hand on her pin’s head, preparing to plunge it in and make a break for it. But before she had the chance to act her desperate plan, the vent grates open and she fell backwards and into the waiting skeleton hand of Red.

Red’s hand quickly closed around her, trapping her. He looked her over, his eyes roaming from her wild eyes to her ratty clothes.

“well, looks like this place has an infestation after all. knew there had to be a catch.”

Y/n strained to reach her pin, but her arms were pinned to her side. She wildly searched the room, looking for anything that might briefly distract him. Nothing she saw would help; even the other skeleton had somehow managed to leave without much notice ( _'More magic?!'_ ). Desperate, she resorted to biting hard of every bit of the bone hand holding her. Red took a shuddering breath, the hand holding her tighten.

“o-oh sweetheart, you really shouldn’t do that.”

Y/n looked at Red in disbelief, like telling her to stop was going to work! For some reason, Red had red sweat beading his skull and she wondered if this was why he was called Red? Maintaining eye contact, she deliberately bit down as hard as she could, grinding her teeth on his thumb.

Red’s face only got sweatier and a weird glow began to emanate behind his sharp, shark-like teeth. His thumb started to press hard against her chest, causing Y/n to squeak in surprise and shock.

“L-let me go creep!”

Red’s smile only got bigger, a cockiness emanating from the creepy bastard.

*SLAM*

Startled, Red dropped Y/n, who immediately darted for the living room’s ground vent. Sliding between the bars, Y/n looked back to see Edge standing in the doorway, his hands on his hips, glaring down at Red’s quivering form.

“b-boss, w-what-“

“WHERE IS THE ASHTRAY?”

“what?”

Edge ('Red’s boss?') strolled into the room, looming over Red’s shrinking form. “WHERE IS THE SCUM THAT DARED TO EGG ME?" Edge hissed.

“i-it wasn’t stretch.”

Edge lashed forward, grabbing Red by the scruff of his furred coat, lifting him high off the ground, “TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW THIS INSTANT, OR THERE WILL BE DIRE CONSEQUENCES”

Red was sweating again, squirming in Edge's grasp “i-it was a bitty.”

“A WHAT?”

“i-it’s a small human. she’s hiding in the vents. i had her, b-but then i dropped her when you came in.”

Edge dropped Red, who remained where he fell. “YOU IDIOT, OF COURSE YOU’D DO THAT! NO MATTER, I WILL CATCH HER.” He levelled his glare at Red, who immediately started to sweat again, “THAT IS, IF YOU AREN’T LYING TO ME?”

“o-of course not b-boss, wouldn' dream of it.”

Edge straightened up, looking around the room, “WHERE IS SHE NOW?”

_'Time to leave.'_

Y/n turned and climbed the ventilation system, grabbing her bag from the upper vents before leaving behind the two edgy skeletons. It seemed like she had only managed to piss off two monsters that were most likely to go hunting her for revenge… not exactly what she had been aiming for. Mentally shrugging, she moved through the vents till she could hear the echo of two voices, reconsidering her approach. Moving towards them, she popped out in the study area.

After all, there were others she could convince that moving in was a bad idea and other ways to convince them of that.

Y/n could see the tall skeleton in the red scarf perusing the shelves of books that lined the room, while the short skeleton in the blue bandana was pressed against the window, looking out into the backyard.

"HEY PAPYRUS, CHECK IT OUT! THIS PLACE HAS A POOL, A FANCY GARDEN, AN APPLE TREE AND SOO MUCH SPACE FOR ACTIVITIES!"

The short skeleton turned to the tall skeleton, with literal stars in his eyes.

Papyrus ( _'...like the font?'_ ) turned away from the bookshelves, a big smile on his face as he nodded at the shorter skeleton, "IT APPEARS THIS PLACE IS INDEED WORTHY OF OUR GREAT FAMILY!" He turned back to the bookcases, "IT'S JUST A SHAME THAT THE LITERACY QUALITY DOESN'T MATCH WITH THE REST OF THE DECORUM. I MEAN, THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE A SINGLE COPY OF FLUFFY BUNNY'S ADVENTURES!" he waved a dismissive hand at the books.

"WHAT!?" The shorted skeleton rushed over to stand by Papyrus's side, looking over the books himself, "WHAT KIND OF BOOK COLLECTION LACKS SUCH A BASIC NECESSITY?!"

*Screeeeeeeach*

The high pitch sound of metal dragging across metal echoed around the room, silencing the two skeletons.

"W-WHAT WAS THAT?"

"~Get out of my house~"

Y/n loved how the vent echoed and amplified her voice, or when she used her pin to create echoey screeching sounds, creating quite a creepy atmosphere when she needed to. It was especially fun if the buyers were superstitious or Halloween was close.

Papyrus turned to the shorter skeleton, twisting his hand, "DID UM, DID THE RETAIL LADY SAY THIS PLACE WAS HAUNTED?"

"M-MAYBE THEY'RE A NICE GHOST?" The shorter skeleton suddenly perked up, "MAYBE THEY'RE A COOL GHOST? LIKE NAPSTABLOOK?"

"OR LIKE METTATON?"

The shorter skeleton began moving around the room, his hands (unnecessary) cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice, "COME OUT MISSES GHOST LADY, WE WANT TO MEET YOU."

Papyrus quickly joined in, "THAT'S RIGHT! WE JUST WANT TO MEET OUR NEW FUTURE ROOMMATE WHO...WAIT A MINUTE!" he turned to grasp the shorter skeleton's shoulders, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS BLUE?! WE CAN HAVE GHOSTLY SLEEPOVERS EVERY NIGHT!"

The stars quickly returned to Blue's ( _'wait, this was blue? It has to be a nickname...right?'_ ) eyes, bigger and brighter than they had been before, "THAT WOULD BE GREATEST THING EVER!!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT!?"

_'Well, this didn't work out.'_

Y/n mentally slapped herself. Of course, if there was such a thing as skeleton monsters, there would be ghost monsters! Normally, the supernatural approach worked, or at least didn't backfire like this had!

_'Time to try another approach.'_

"*Sob*, Please don't buy my house."

The two skeletons stilled.

"IS THE GHOST CRYING?"

"PLEASE COME OUT, WE WANT TO HELP YOU."

"You want to steal my home from me, *sniff*."

Y/n saw both skeletons pass a shock, almost guilty look between them. She didn't feel quite right playing on their sympathy, but it wasn't like she had many options left.

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER STEAL!", his tone became noticeable softer (if not quieter) "CAN WE SEE YOU PLEASE? WE PROMISE NOT TO HURT YOU."

Blue nodded his agreement, puffing out his chest, "THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY WILL PROTECT YOU FROM ANY AND ALL DANGERS!"

Y/n slowly approached the vent's bars, exposing herself to the room's light. She knew she was taking a risk, but she was banking on these monsters not lunging for her. Hopefully, she could play on their sympathy if she looked the part.

"My name is Y/n and this is my home.", she rubbed her eyes, "Oh please don't take my home, please!"

Papyrus strode forward, his hands outstretched like he was going to pick her up, near tears in his eye lights.

"Don't come near me!" Y/n snapped. After a quick moment of regret, she amended, "...please."

Papyrus instantly withdrew his hand, like he had just been burnt, "BUT-BUT YOU'RE SO TINY!" he turned to stare at Blueberry ( _'so, I was right about the nickname...kind of'_ ), who looked equally shocked, "I DIDN'T KNOW HUMANS CAME SO SMALL."

"I-I THINK THEY'RE CALLED 'BITTIES'?" Blueberry looked to Y/n, who nodded to confirm his statement.

"Please, nice monsters, don't buy my house."

"WHY WOULD THAT RETAIL LADY TRY TO SELL A PLACE THAT ALREADY HAS AN OWNER?"

"She says that I'm not allowed to live here anymore, that pests like me don't deserve our homes and that we need to be taken away from them." Y/n looked down at her bare feet, "Everyone's forgotten me, my name, who I am. They've all forgotten that this is my house". She looked both skeletons directly, "But not me, I remember who I am and I remember that this is my home."

Falling to her knees and burying her head in her hands, she sobbed loudly, "Please, don't take away my home!"

The two skeletons were silent for a long time.

Y/n wish she could see their faces, to see what effect she had on them and to ensure that she wasn't about to get grabbed, but she didn't want to be caught out for acting.

"WE NEED TO FIND OUR BROTHERS."

"I THINK I SAW SANS WITH THE RETAIL LADY AND STRETCH IN THE LIVING ROOM. WE SHOULD SEE HIM FIRST."

"OF COURSE!" Blueberry turned back to look at Y/n, who was looking back up by now, "DON'T WORRY MISS Y/N, OUR BROTHERS WILL LISTEN TO US". He pointed to himself, posing, "THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY WILL PROTECT YOU"

Papyrus nodded in agreement, "WE WON'T LET OUR BROTHERS BUY YOUR HOME, LITTLE HUMAN! YOU CAN COUNT ON US."

Y/n watched as the two brothers bolted for the door, loudly calling for Stretch. She smiled to herself; if she felt guilty about abusing their trust, it would be worth it if she had just convinced two of the family not to move in.

_'Hopefully, they'll convince Stretch and whoever the other brother is, creating a majority against buying the house!'_

For the first time today, Y/n could feel the odds moving in her favour. Now, she only had to worry about Sara and her 'ace in the hole'.

Speaking of which, Y/n recalled that it had been a while since she had seen Sara. Fearing the worse, she made her way out of the air vent, over to the window Blueberry had been pressed against when she had first arrived. From here, she confirmed her fears; Sara and Sans were in the backyard, looking at the various features, including her father’s workshop. With a start, Y/n scrabbled away from the window, running towards the hall's vent, the main pipeline for the ventilation system.

_'Damn it, I should have kept a better eye out!'_

Just as she reached the study's door, it slammed shut, dragging Y/n’s eyes to follow the long, gloved skeleton arm on the door to the sharp face of Edge. He smirked down at her, cold hated filling his gaze.

“DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD DROP AN EGG ON ME AND LIVE?”

Y/n turned and bolted for the nearest vent.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!”

Blood red bones sprang from nowhere, blocking the vent and her escape. With lighting reflects honed from dodging many angry humans, Y/n changed course and instead dove behind the bookshelf.

Edge strode confidently towards her hiding place, his pace eerily slow.

“COME OUT, LITTLE PEST, AND I’LL BE MERCIFULLY QUICK.”, he purred.

Taking heaping gulps of air, Y/n could feel her body shake, her veins flooded with adrenaline.

_'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.'_

“NOWHERE TO HIDE NOW, PEST.”

Y/n pressed against the wall, her hand brushing her side to feel the sharp, coldness of her pin pressed against her leg. Grasping the pin’s head, she pulled it from its cover, considering. What she was planning would only make the murderous skeleton more murderous, but at this point……she just hoped that skeletons could feel pain.

With a sudden rush of light and movement, Edge toppled the bookcase, exposing her to his glare and anger.

“NO ONE ESCAP-“

Y/n lunged forward, jamming her pin into the middle of Edge’s red boot.

“ARRGGHHHH!!!”

With a wild cry, Edge sprang back. While he hoped on one foot, clutching the boot with a pin still embedded in it, Y/n ran back to the door, desperate.

_‘Please! Someone had to have heard that. Please, let that someone open the door. Pl-‘_

The door cracked open, the relaxed face of Stretch peering into the room. Y/n silently thanked the blessed calcium gods and dived through the gap, pelting towards the hall’s vent.

“edge, what’s going o-“

“CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR YOU IDIOT!!”

Breathing heavily in the vent’s shadows, Y/n watched as Stretch quickly shut the door, shrugged and left. The moment the door closed, more red bones sprang from the floor, blocking the door. From behind it, she could hear the muted sounds of Edge destroying furniture.

“I KNOW YOU’RE STILL IN HERE!! I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL TEAR EACH OF YOUR LIMBS OFF, ONE BY ONE!!”

Leaning against the wall, Y/n took a long time to collect her thoughts and to calm her racing heart. She has wasted vital time and needed to move much quicker if she hoped to make it to the workshop in time. Going out into the yard on foot would be too slow and going through the house would risk getting spotted again.

_'Guess I have to fly then.'_

Y/n made her to the upper floors, coming out of the air vent that leads to Jake's old room. His stuff was still littered around the room, but she wasn't interested in that right now. Making her was to his balcony, she looked out to the backyard, seeing Sara and Sans were still making their way towards Dad's workshop.

Y/n took off her bag, dragging out her make-shift glider. Getting this thing to work had been a fun experience (swan diving off the couch to land on the soft carpet multiple times, in the name of science of course), but going outside was always a risky business. While up in the air, she was always subjected to the wind, which had once blown her so far off course, it had taken her hours to walk back home ( _'Granted, everything took far longer than it use to...dam bitty-curse or whatever the hell this was.'_ ) but right now she was desperate and the wind looked and felt really calm.

 _'Ironically, jumping off the second story is much safer for me right now than walking through the house and yard.'_ She smiled at the thought.

Y/n looked out at the yard hearing the echoes of Papyrus and Blueberry calling out for Stretch, who they had yet to find, apparently. 'How did they miss him as he made his way to the study room?' Casting that thought aside, Y/n prepared to jump, her eyes focusing on the workshop's window ledge as her target. Worst case scenario, she missed it and would have to climb up from the ground.

_'Good thing then that I've had nothing but climbing experiences.'_

With a heart-stopping leap, Y/n ran towards and off the balcony railing. The wind immediately filled her guilder, holding her high off the ground. Her arms strained from her dangling weight, but she barely noticed it as she took in the sights and feeling of gliding. She had to admit, if she managed to turn back to her regular size, this would be one of the things she would actually miss. As a bitty, she was stronger, more durable than she had once been. Her regular self couldn't throw herself off a building with a make-shift glider and hope to live. Now, she could fall from this height and would still be able to bounce back relatively quickly.

_'The power of being small, I guess.'_

As she angled the glider towards her targeted landing zone, she felt the wind give a decisively pull in the wrong direction. Before she could cuss at her bad luck or attempt to fight the inevitable, the wind quickly corrected its course, becoming the smoothest glide she ever had. The wind was so perfect that, as she neared the window ledge, it levelled out, giving her ample time to walk along the ledge before she lowered the glide; the perfect landing.

Quite chuffed with herself, she excitedly whooped, throwing her arms up into the air in celebration of her mad skills! A quiet chuckle halted her celebration, however, as she looked back up at the house. There, she saw the orange shape of Stretch leaning out on Jake's balcony, still wearing a lazy smile. When Stretch noticed her looking back at him, he gave a brief wave. Impulsively, she waved back, before quickly scolding herself, blushing hard.

_'Did he just see any of that?!'_

"PAPPY! THERE YOU ARE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

Blueberry stood outside in the yard, glaring up at Stretch ( _'Stretch is Blueberry's dad? But he called him his brother?'),_ who shrugged, "eh, just taking it breezie."

"PAPPY!!"

Papyrus crossed his arms, standing beside a Blueberry stomping in frustration, "YOUR BROTHER IS NO BETTER THAN MINE!" he looked up at Stretch, "STAY THERE, THERE'S SOMETHING WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT!"

"you know me, i could win atrophy for not moving."

"PAPS!!" "STRETCH!!"

Y/n chuckled to herself and she was pretty sure Stretch just winked at her.

Seeing the approaching figures of Sara and Sans, she moved towards the window. Leaving behind the groaning skeletons and her mortification, she entered through a crack in the window's glass panel, a slow and careful process where she attempted to not cut herself.

Upon entering, Y/n made her way to the garage door, hopping down shelf by shelf, listening to the two getting closer, their voices muffled by the door and walls.

"-and here we have the workshop, fully equipped with various machinery and other useful tools one might need for vehicle work."

"vehicle work?"

"The previous owners of this estate had some sort of motorcycle building business."

Y/n looked down at the door handle as it began to rattle, a key entering the key lock.

"You'll see what I mean in a second."

Placing herself on the door handle, Y/n pushed out the key from the lock as hard as she could. With a satisfying *Chink*, the key popped out on the other side, landing in the dirt.

"i'm guessing you're not hitting the right _key_ there."

While Sara, she was sure, bent down to pick up the key and try again, Y/n pulled out and stuffed the lock with blue tack. With immense satisfaction, she watched the doorhandle continue to jingle and Sara's attempts getting more desperate and forceful.

"I-I'm not sure why this isn't working. It was working just fine last week."

"maybe we're missing a _key_ clue here?"

Sara forcefully laughed, although Y/n could only imagine her face looked as strained as her laugh.

"i'm going to look around the shed, maybe find another way in?"

"Oh, o-of course Mr Sans. I'm sure this won't take long to fix. Feel free to call out to me if you need me."

There was the sound of confirmation from Sans, then footsteps walking off to the side.

Suddenly, Sara's voice sounded much closer and lower, still muffled by the door "I know you're there Y/n. You need to stop whatever it is you've done to this lock right now."

Y/n said nothing.

"I mean it! I will smash this door open with a rock if I have too! These monsters are really interested in buying this house and I won't have you messing this up again!"

Y/n continued to say nothing, although she took great delight in flipping Sara off (not that she could see it, but it was the spirit of the gesture that mattered).

"That's it!" Sara huffed before the Y/n heard the sound of her retreating footsteps.

"hun, she's a bit _aggregated_ , isn't she?"

With a shriek, Y/n fell off the door handle. The impact she was expecting didn't come however, as instead, she found herself hovering inches from the ground, bathed in a weird blue glow. Next thing she knew, she was being airlifted to the eye level of the grinning Sans.

_'Why is one of his eyes glowing?! What happened to the other one!?'_

"so, you're the kid causing all this trouble."

_'How did he manage to say any of that without opening his mouth?!'_

Y/n started, panic and fear making her angrily reply, "Y-yea! That's right! And I'll keep making trouble if you're dumb enough to buy this house!"

With a flurry of kicking and swinging movements, the blue glow suddenly vanished and Y/n was falling again. Upon hitting the ground, she scarped under the nearby workbench, watching Sans through the workbenches' legs. Sans expression still had that wide, permeate smile of his, but now he looked confused and shocked.

"how did you...?"

"You have until the count of five before I start bashing in the lock! 1.2.3-"

Sans turned to the door, effortless opening it to a Sara in mid-bashing motion with a large rock that looked like it had come from the pond area.

"i guess i took my time for _granite_."

"M-Mr Sans? How did you get in?"

Sans shrugged, "found a short-cut."

Sara started as Sans for a good long while, obviously struggling to form a coherent thought, before she managed one, "Oh, well, good then...I guess."

She lowered the rock to the side of the doorway, clearing her voice when she stood back up. "So, um, let me show you around the workshop."

Sara entered the workshop, closing the door behind her. She quickly spotted the blue tack blocking the lock, removing it while she scanned the area, paying attention to the room's edges, nooks and crannies.

_'No doubt trying to see me.'_

"can i _quarry_ what you're searching for?"

Sara's attention immediately snapped back to Sans, who had his pockets stuffed in his hoodie, a relaxed grin while he casually watched her."No, no it's nothing."

Sara cleared her voice, gesturing wildly to all the various equipment, "Um, as you can see, this used to be some sort of motorcycling building operation. Apparently, a lot of this stuff is designed for customisation or something like that." She smirked at Sans, throwing in a casual wink, "I've been told this stuff is worth a lot of money...to the right people, of course."

"is that so?"

Y/n watched in bitter anger as Sara walked Sans through Dad's workshop, failing to explain the correct purpose of each equipment. The appeal of the house, with its fully furnished and spacious rooms was understandable. But this workshop was basically a gold mine, waiting to be scrapped for profit. No way would anyone appreciate the value of just simply leaving it alone. This was Sara's 'ace in the hole', the reason she gave people to buy this house. This place was the reason why Y/n worked so hard to ensure no one made it this far in the tour.

_'Until today, apparently.'_

"SANS! SAANS!"

The sound of Papyrus calling from the house ended the tour of the workshop's equipment, as both Sara and Sans made their way back to the garage door. Soon, Sara would be locking the door and walking back, leaving Y/n to slowly trudge back to the house.

 _'Unless I hitched a ride, that is.'_ , Y/n thought, looking over the two's clothing. On the one hand, Sans was wearing a hoodie, something she could see herself jumping safely into without him noticing, but she didn't know him well enough to assume he wouldn't feel her land. Sara, from previous experience, was less likely to notice her when she was in the company of potential buyers, making her the safest bet. She was wearing her noodle strapped handbag and impractical high heels. She could attempt to climb into the bag, but that risked getting trapped or caught.

_'Guess I'm hitching a bumpy, awful ride today.'_

Making her way to the door, she waited for Sara to exit and lock the door behind Sans and herself. When she was locking the door, Y/n made her way to the back of the heel closest to her, grabbing a secure hold to the upper lip of the high heel.

"um."

Sara turned, Y/n's hold getting tested for the first time, as she looked at Sans, "Yes, Mr Sans?"

Y/n could just barely see one of Sans's shoulders shrug, "it's nothing, i don't want to appear too clingy."

Sara laughed, a brief professional laugh, before she moved towards the house. Y/n, meanwhile, questioned the nature of that pun, preparing to make a bolt for it if she needed to. She would rather walk the rest of the way than risk getting captured, particularly with Sara around.

As Sara travelled, every other step was a jarring experience for Y/ n, as she experienced freefalling, only to come an abrupt crash in an endless cycle.

"SANS! I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!"

"what is it bro?"

Papyrus's boots came into view, walking alongside Sans's slippers ( _'really?'_ )

"OH, HELLO RETAIL LADY!"

"Hello, um, Pap...er, Paprika?"

"PAPYRUS, ACTUALLY."

"Ah, yes of course, my apologies."

"YOU ARE FORGIVEN RETAIL LADY. NOT EVERYONE CAN HAVE THE IMPECCABLE MEMORY OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS."

"heh, it's true. you wanted something bro?"

"AH, YES. SANS, I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD BUY THIS HOUSE."

"What? Why?"

"i believe he was talking to me, actually."

Y/n couldn't see the face Sans was making, but if matched anything like the tone he just used, she was surprised Sara hadn't bolted.

"M-my, ap-apologies. I-it won't happen again." Sara's pace defiantly increased.

"you were saying bro?"

"APPARENTLY, THIS HOUSE ALREADY HAS AN OWNER! THIS RETAIL LADY IS TRYING TO SELL US SOMEONE ELSE'S HOME!"

Sara stopped and turned, her foot on the patio landing. As much as Y/n would love to hang around and hear how this would play out, she knew she wouldn't get a better chance to sneak in while everyone was distracted.

While Sara bumbled through her explanations, no doubt proving that the house was, technically, legal to sell, she slipped in the back doorway, rushing towards the nearest vent, which happened to be in the living room hall. Safely concealed in shadows, she saw that the rest of the skeletons were already sitting around the various furniture, obviously done with the tour. Red had managed to move back into the same position he had been in when she first saw him while Stretch was lounging on the remaining couch. Blueberry was looking over all the movies and Edge, well, besides looking even more pissed off than when she last saw him, was tapping the walls, his skull pressed against the wall. Apparently he thought she was a termite or something.

Soon enough, Sara, Sans and Papyrus entered the living room from the backyard, still talking about her, apparently.

"who's the bitty?"

Sara shifted uncomfortable, avoiding Sans's questioning eyes.

"If she's a problem, I can have her removed from the premises before you all move in."

"why haven't you done that already?", Red asked, looking at her from his spot.

Sara became visible more uncomfortable, "She's very adamant about this place being hers." She laughed, "Legally speaking, she isn't even meant to be here. And she certainly had no claim over this place."

"because?", Stretch waved his hand, indicating Sara to continue.

"Because," Sara emphasised, "there's no record of her, period. No birth certificate, no tax number and certainly no proof that she's the owner of this house." When she got no response from the collective skeletons, she rushed on, "But that's to be expected, right? No one remembers who any of the bitties were, not even themselves."

"Y/N, HER NAME IS Y/N", Blueberry looked sharply at Sara, "AND THIS IS HER HOME."

He looked over to Papyrus, who was nodding in agreement, "SHE REMEMBERS WHO SHE IS."

Sara rolled her eyes, surprising Y/n because Sara was normally much better at hiding her emotions than this. Guess she was having a bigger impact on Sara's psyche today than she thought. "Sure, thousands of cases and not only is she one of the few rare adult bitties, but she also happens to be the only bitty in the entire world that just happens to remember her name and past? Don't you find that even a bit too convenient?"

When the skeletons made no notion of agreeing with her (or acknowledging her as was in Edge's case, still tapping the wall), she sighed, raising her hands in submission. "Okay look, I happen to believe that this is her house, I mean, why make that up? If no one could remember your name, let alone what you previously owned, why claim a house? But that's not the only problem."

"WHAT ELSE IS THERE?"

Sara scoffed, "Beside her inability to look after this place? The courts decided that she still falls under Bitty Law."

"the one that says bitties can't legally look after themselves?", supplied Sans.

"Yes, that one, and she lost her appeal to that have an exemption." Sara threw her arms up, exasperated, "And I have no idea how she made it back here after that court meeting! As far as I know, she was supposed to be taken from there into a bittycare facility, awaiting adoption."

Sara looked pointedly up at an air vent (wasn't the one she was in, but she knew Sara's glare was meant for her) "I've tried to help her, giving her food and basic supplies, to get her to understand that she can't look after this place by herself, and that if she really cared about this place, she'd let me find a good family who'd look after it for her! But she refuses to cooperate and she absolutely refuses to leave this place! And it's not like I can call in a pest exterminator!" Sara looked away, "As frustrating as she is, scaring off potential buyers and all, I don't want to kill her."

There was a pregnant pause.

Y/n knew all of this already, Sara never left the house without lecturing her how stupid she was being and how she insisted she was just trying to 'help'. None of it mattered though; this was her house and she would rather die defending it than being shipped off to some random placed filled with children bitties, waiting to be adopted.

"i'd think my family and i would like to discuss our options in private", said Sans, with a pointed look at Sara.

She sighed, inclining her head and arm towards the dining room, "Of course. There's plenty of space for you in the dining room. I'll, er, I'll just go check the yard then."

She left, while the skeletons made their way towards the dining room, seating themselves around the table. From her new vantage point in the dining room vent, Y/n could see all of the skeletons' expressions, ranging from indifferent, uneasy and, in the case of Edge, pissed off.

"I VOTE FOR MOVING IN."

That was a surprise; guess her first guess about Edge holding grudges was unfortunately true. She wasn't the only one surprised though.

"why?"

The blatant question from Stretch did nothing to quell the anger come off Edge in waves.

"BECAUSE THIS HOUSE IS SPACIOUS, FULLY FURNISHED AND HAS A GREAT YARD. WHAT DOES IT MATTER?"

"WHAT ABOUT Y/N? THIS IS HER HOUSE!"

Edge waved a dismissive hand at Blueberry's argument.

"WHO CARES!? IT'S OURS NOW", Edge glared at the vent, no doubt imagining her sitting there watching him, "AND IF SHE'S SMART, SHE'LL LEAVE OUR HOUSE AS FAST AS SHE CAN." He grinned evilly, “OR DON’T. IT’S MORE FUN THAT WAY.”

"no harming y/n, edge." Sans said, with a hard stare at Edge.

Red shrugged into his fluffy coat, "if she isn't harmed by the boss, she'll be harmed by someone else sooner or later."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

Red stared at Blueberry, a grin slowly spreading, "think about it, she keeps pissin' off people who want to buy her house. one day, one of those people isn't going to care about killing her". He shrugged again, "probably fumigate this place with bug spray."

Blueberry looked horrified at the idea, but Papyrus seemed determined, "Y/N ASKED US TO NOT TO MOVE IN, I SAY WE RESPECT THAT AND LOOK ELSEWHERE."

Blueberry slammed his hands down on the table, "BUT SHE'LL PROBABLY GET K-KILLED! WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN! WE COULD HELP HER!" he turned to Sans, "I VOTE WE LIVE HERE!"

Sans nodded, "so that's two for moving in and one for not."

He turned to Red, who shrugged, "i vote with boss"

Sans indicated his head towards Stretch, who looked at his brother's expected face and sighed.

"gotta vote against my bro here."

Blueberry gasped, and quite a few of the others looked shocked too. "BUT, BUT WHY?"

Stretch shrugged, "i just don't like the idea of forcing someone into a situation that they really don't want to be in." He stared at Sans, "and i'm sure you feel that same way"

Sans sighed heavily, looking around the table, at each individual waiting expectantly for his deciding vote. "it's a really good house with a lot of room for expansion, exactly what we've been after."

Stretch shrugged, but didn't reply.

With another heavy sigh, Sans looked at her vent.

"y/n, how about we pay you rent?"

Y/n stared back, unseen in the shadows.

Sans continued, "we could buy the house from these guys and give it back to you if you ever get back to how you were before. we can look after the house, keep it from falling apart." He indicated to the others, "we'd store anything you don't want us using and-", he looked pointedly at Edge, "-you wouldn't be harmed."

Edge scoffed and rolled his eye lights, but otherwise remained silent, looking anywhere but at Sans.

"edge."

Edge abruptly stood up, toppling the chair he had been sitting on, "FINE! I WON'T KILL THE PEST THAT THOROUGHLY DESERVES IT!", then he proceeded to storm out of the room.

Meanwhile, Y/n thought about what was the best offer she had ever gotten. Hell, it was the only offer. Once people found out that she lived there and had no qualms doing whatever it took to get them to leave, they never stuck around to find out more. Not only was this the first time she had failed to get potential buyers to leave, it was also the first time she was being asked for her opinion. She was actually getting a vote.

Still, money wasn’t something that was useful to her. She couldn't access it and had no legal means or rights to it. Hell, the money she had before becoming a bitty no longer acknowledge her existence and wouldn't be hers after she had been 'legally dead' for six years. Even if she had it, what could she do, go to the store, buy a car? She was so dependent on the kindness of strangers and the scraps she found around the house! The same applied to the upkeep of the house. As much as it pained her to admit it, she hadn't been able to do all the maintenance this placed desperately needed.

Logically, accepting Sans offer was the best decision, but emotionally.... to depend on Sans's 'word', his honesty and integrity, to trust that he wouldn't change his mind and that the others would agree and be trustworthy to keep to that agreement.

_'It would be so much easier if I was just left alone, but how long can that really last for?'_

"What does it matter? Like you'd actually listen to what I say", she voice echoing out of the ventilation system, small, frustrated and tried.

Sara returned, knocking on the doorframe, "I saw someone outside and guessed you had an answer ready to go?" she walked in, clapping her hands in eager anticipation, "so, what have you decided?"

Sans took one, finale hard look at her air vent, before letting out a final, long sigh.

"guess we're moving in, huh?"

 

 Next chapter is called: Burring down the house!


	2. Burning down the house!

Today was the day the skeletons were moving in. The process had been a long one, what with it taking Sara and her bosses a couple of days to daft out a housing agreement. Sans had even made it a point of coming over during that waiting period, outlying what the skeletons would be paying in rent. When Y/n explained (safely from the vent, of course)that she couldn't hold a bank account, let alone withdraw and use the money, Sans had shrugged, insisting that, when that changed, there would be a bank account filled with all of their rent money in her name. The gesture was appreciated, but it still depended on trusting this virtual stranger. She didn't let Sans know her thoughts on the matter, quietly leaving him when he asked if this was okay.

She had spent the remaining time she had before today bouncing between two mindsets;

  1. The skeletons would help keep this place together and do the things she physically couldn't.
  2. The skeletons were encroaching, on her property.



It was the difference between what she knew made logical sense and what her soul was screaming at her.

_'Give them a chance/ they're in my house!'_

Her solution? Passive aggression. If the skeletons could put up with her trying to get them out of her house, show that they were committed to the idea of staying, then maybe she could tolerate their existence. Or at the very least she would have a better understanding of who she was dealing with the longer they stayed, maybe make a more informed decision later on. If they had enough and left, well, guess she won and could start preparing to fend off the next suckers Sara brought around.

Either way was fine with her.

Right now, she was watching the skeletons arriving in a small army of vehicles. There were three moving vans, two snazzy sports cars and one motorcycle that immediately took her interest. She couldn't see what model it was but if she... No, not what she was here for.

"I'M SO EXCITED WE'RE FINALLY HERE. IT FEELS LIKE FOREVER SINCE WE WERE LAST HERE!"

"INDEED! I SUGGEST THE FIRST THING WE SHOULD DO IS INTRODUCE OURSELVES TO OUR NEW ROOMMATE!"

Strapping her bag to her back, her trusted glider ready to go, Y/n considered her landing target. The skeletons were all huddled around the moving van that had been parked close to the front door, with a second one close by. The last moving van was parked some distance away, close to the front gate. The motorcycle and two cars were parked within the premise, off to the side to allow the moving vans.

_'It'd be a crime to attack the chrome.'_

"I'LL NEVER CONSIDER THAT PEST A 'ROOMMATE'! IT'S BAD ENOUGH I AM FORCED TO LIVE WITH THE REST OF YOU MOUTH BREATHERS!"

"you remember our little conversation about y/n edge?"

Y/n jumped off the attic's ledge, gliding to the ground near the front of the furthest moving truck, the one closest to the front gates. Quickly packing her glider away, she listened and waited to see if she had been spotted.

"YES!! STARS SANS, QUIT ACTING LIKE I AM A CHILD!"

"a murderous child perhaps."

"WHAT WAS THAT ASHTRAY?"

_'Guess not.'_

Climbing up the car's front, Y/n pushed aside the covering protecting the condenser and eyed the system. _'Good thing it's an old model.'_ Moving between the fan and the air conditioners cooling bars, Y/n made her way through the ac system, popping out in the vent near the driver's seat.

Grinning, Y/n saw that someone left their keys in the ignition, no doubt expecting to be back soon.

"you heard me."

"I'LL-"

"hey-hey boss, why don't we get inside and get the first pick of the rooms?"

She climbed up the steering wheel, making her way to the key. Bracing herself, she turned it just three clicks.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! I CALL DIBS!

"I'LL RACE YOU FOR IT!"

Huffing, she jumped down onto the seat, eyeing the handbrake.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! YOU CAN'T CALL DIBS ON PICKING FIRST ROOM, YOU CRETINS! ONLY THE TRULY WORTHY, THE GREATEST OF US GET TO HAVE THAT HONOUR."

Pulling the brake down hadn't worked, so now she was jumping on the handle, nearly falling off when it finally clicked out of gear.

"THAT'S WHY I SHOULD GO FIRST! I AM CALLED 'THE GREAT PAPYRUS' AFTER ALL!"

With a hug on the driving stick and a pull, Y/n felt the car give a lurch and begin to roll forward. Satisfied, she scrabbled quickly back up to the AC vent and made her way back through the system, stumbling as she felt the car continued to roll forward.

"IS THAT WHY YOU'RE CALLED 'THE TERRIBLE EDGE'?"

Popping out pass the grill, Y/n jumped out, landing in the overgrown grass of the area just outside her front gates.

"WHY YOU LITTLE- I'LL SHOW YOU WHY I'M THE MOST FEARED MONSTER IN THE ENTIRE UNDERGROUND!"

"WHERE IS THAT MOVING VAN GOING?"

*Crunch!*

Y/n looked back to see the moving van stopped by the most invincible object in the known universe; the dreaded tree. While she had no doubt that there was some serious damage to the bodywork, it wouldn't have been enough to damage any mechanical components.

"oh what the hell!?"

Y/n missed Red and Stretch appearing at the scene. Looking back, she could see the three brothers still making their way over. _'Guess these guys are much faster than I'm giving them credit.'_

"is anything damaged in there?" Stretch called out to the of the truck.

Sans popped suddenly out of the back ( _'when did he get in there... I could have sworn I saw him out the front with the others'),_ "nope, we're good."

He looked over at Stretch, who was rubbing the back of his skull, "what happened stretch?"

Stretch straightened, "if you're suggesting that i left the van without putting on the brakes, you can stop right there."

"then how did the truck roll forwards, jackass?", Red demanded.

Papyrus and Blueberry came running down, slowly followed by Edge, who was taking his leisurely time.

"PAPPY! ARE YOU OKAY?!", Blueberry ran up and embraced Stretch.

Stretch patted the back of Blueberry's skull, "i'm fine bro. guess i forgot to check the bark."

Blueberry pushed Stretch away, his cheeks puffed out in mild irritation. Edge, however, was more than just irritated, "YOU CRASH A CAR AND YOU'RE MAKING JOKES?! YOU REALLY ARE THE WORST."

"IS Y/N OKAY?"

There was a long pause after Papyrus's question, during which Y/n continued to slowly, and very carefully, making her way back to the house.

"why do you ask bro?"

"I, ER, UM. NO REASON! JUST FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!"

As Y/n moved further and further away, she missed what the responses were. Good thing then that Edge apparently had no volume control.

"NOT LIKELY! TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW CREAMPUFF!"

She made it safely across the threshold of the front door, climbing back into her vent. From here, the sound became amplified. So while she couldn't see the skeletons, she did hear Edge's echoing exclamation, "YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THE PEST CAN CLIMB INTO CARS AND HAS ENOUGH INTELLIGENCE TO PUT THEM INTO NEUTRAL?!"

~*~

Before long, all the skeleton brothers were back at the front of the house with the excitement of the crash taken care of. Blueberry had been the first inside, eagerly pushing Stretch towards the stairs. Papyrus would have been next if he hadn't been slowed down by Sans, who had apparently fallen asleep somewhere. While he was yelling at Sans to "STOP BEING SO LAZY!", he was beaten inside by Edge, who had returned after "ENSURING THAT MY CAR REMAINS WHERE IT IS AND ISN'T TOUCHED BY THE UNWORTHY HANDS OF -so on and so forth" with Red trailing after him.

_'Might as well go and see who claims what room.'_

Making her way back up the vent, Y/n sat at the main ventilation pipeline, with a perfect view of all the bedroom doors and staircase.

Stretch was the first up the stairs, still being pushed by Blueberry, where he immediately stopped at the bedroom that was closest to the stair's entrance. Dumping his stuff by the door, he leaned against the frame, seemingly exhausted from the trip.

"PAPPY!" Blueberry was next, stomping over to his brother, his cheeks puffed out in ('cute') irritation. "WHY WOULD YOU STOP HERE? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE INSIDE OF THE ROOM YET? HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS IS THE ROOM YOU WANT?!"

Stretch shrugged, "it's the closest to the stairs, it's the one."

While Blueberry was busy trying to get his brother to at least open the bedroom door, Edge came up the stairs, holding his things. He took one look at where Stretch was sitting before walking to the other side of the room, dumping his things at the bedroom door as far away for the pair as possible. Red, who had followed, shrugged, claiming the bedroom next to Edge.

_'So, that's the Nan's room, the guest room and Victoria's room claimed. Who's going to try to claim Jake's, Mum and Dad's room and my room?'_

Papyrus came next, a box under one arm and Sans over the other. Dumping the box and Sans next to the door that leads to Mum and Dad's old room, Papyrus moved to the next door (which happened to by her room), disappearing inside.

"NYEH HEH HEH! I CLAIM THIS ROOM AS MY OWN, FOR IT HAS THE GREATEST VIEW OF THE WHOLE BACKYARD! AND LOOK AT ALL THIS COOL STUFF! *GASP*IS THIS 'THE BATMAN'?"

Blueberry gasped, before rounding on Stretch, "PAPPY! I WANTED THAT ROOM!"

Stretch shrugged, still lying against the doorframe, as Red pipped up "isn't that the side of the house with the view of the pool and a balcony?"

Blueberry seemed to consider this, his face lighting up as he thought about the implications. In contrast to Blueberry's growing joy, Stretch's grew concerned and regretful.

"a-actually, i've changed my mind. sans, mind switching with me?"

Before Sans had a chance to reply ( _'Had he fallen asleep onto of that box?'_ ), Blueberry tore open the door, dashing inside.

"WOWIE! LOOK AT ALL THIS STUFF! LOOK AT ALL THE COOL TOYS!! *GASP* LOOK AT THE POOL, OH WOW, WE'RE REALLY HIGH, AREN'T WE?!"

Stretch levelled a glare at Red, who smirked and flipped him off, before reluctantly following Blueberry into his new room.

Red stopped leaning against Victoria's door, moving to peak into the guest room. "what do you think of your room boss?"

Edge's replying scoff could be heard from up near the main air vent where Y/n was, "IT'LL DO. THE DECORUM IS A JOKE-"

"HEY! I FOUND A WHOLE TUBE OF SOME SORT OF GLOW-IN-THE-DARK SLIME! AWESOME!"

"-AND THIS ROOM IS SEVERELY UNDER-FURNISHED, BUT I GUESS IT'S GOOD THAT IT'S NOT FILLED WITH HUMAN CRAP. IT DOES HAVE A PERFECT VIEW THOUGHT."

Y/n highly doubted that he was talking about the front yard's garden. He was probably refereeing to his car which, she just remembered, was parked under that room's window.

Red nodded, turning to go back to Victoria's room, "if you want, you can always switch with me."

He reached for the door handle, when suddenly he yelled, dropping the handle like a hot potato.

"what the hell!? the door shocked me!"

All the skeletons came over, looking at Red grasp his shocked hand in shock and pain.

Papyrus carefully placing his hand on the door handle. When nothing happened, he let out the breath he had been holding. "I DON'T FEEL ANY 'SHOCK'. MAYBE YOU JUST IMAGINED IT?"

"the hell i did! what's' that at the back of the door?"

Papyrus looked to a few stray wires Red was pointing out. A moment later, Papyrus came out holding a battery attached to a few wires and metal hooks.

"HEY, I HAVE ONE TOO!"

Everyone turned to Blueberry, who had his own battery in his palm. "WHY DIDN'T IT SHOCK ME?"

"fucking gloves", Red muttered under his breath, earning him an annoyed look from both Sans and Stretch.

Sans shrugged, winking an eye light, "i know that this has been a shocking development, and it strikes me that everyone should check their rooms for other bright ideas that y/n may have had."

Papyrus and Blueberry groaned while Edge crossed his arms, looking contemptuous, "REALLY?"

Sans grin merely got wider, placing his hands back into his hoodie as he walked back to Mum and Dad's old room. To demonstrate his point, he pointed to the door handle, which glowed blue, before it swung open by itself. Soon, a third battery was floating into his hand, which he pocketed. With a shrug, he entered the room. Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge quickly returned to their own room, pulling off batteries and checking for other traps as they continued to explore.

"who do you think has y/n's room?" Stretch was leaning against the wall closest to Red's door, a lollipop between his teeth.

Red's look became darker, "hope it's me. gives me excuse to smash stuff."

Stretch rolled the lollipop between his teeth, pondering. "well, it seems like edge's room might have been a guest room, so that's out." Stretch popped out his lollipop, "y/n's a human girl's name, right?"

Red grin became outright lewd, "oh, she's a girl alright."

Stretch paused, giving Red a look, "really red? and how long did it take you to feel up an innocent girl?"

"hey! she's anythin' but innocent! little shit", Red finished under his breath, glaring up at Y/n's vent.

Feeling impish, she stuck her hand out through the vents, flipping him off. She quickly withdrew her hand as the vent was shut out by a slew of red bones, blocking her. Sitting back in the vent's darkness, her smile was complemented with Stretch's quite chuckling.

~*~

From that point on, Y/n watched the skeleton brothers move into her house, using different vents to watch them. They took what they wanted to be removed out of their rooms, leaving the stuff packed by each of the doors. Sans, Papyrus, Stretch, Blueberry and Edge had each called out to Y/n, asking her if there was anything left in the room that she wanted to pack away. Red had refused to talk to her, saying that if he wanted it, it was staying while everything else got tossed outside the room. So while she kept silent with Edge, suspecting that he was asking for ulterior motivations, and she glared at Red every time she saw him treat Victoria's things with little care, she kept silent with the others due to the overwhelming feeling of forlorn that engulfed her. Everything that mattered to her was already in the attic; there was no need to ask when the only honest answer was "put it all back". Regardless, soon new boxes were placed in the attic as each brother made the room their own.

The skeletons brothers quickly discovered that she had only managed booby-trapped their bedroom doors with batteries, but they still continued to use magic to check every handle. Y/n, in turn, quickly learned that Sans, Stretch and Red were the more lethargic brothers, with Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge doing most of the work. Edge had straight up dumped all of Red's things at his door, before placing his boxes gently in his room. Papyrus and Blueberry had been far more gently with Sans and Stretch's boxes, happily chatting with each other about what they would do first once finished. When the talk turned to lunch and what was going to be cooked, even Edge perked up and had joined the conversation. She couldn't guess the reason why the other three brothers looked apprehensive, perhaps the three made a big mess when cooking. They seemed like the type who could create piles of dishes making one meal.

Throughout the day, Edge constantly went back to check his car ( _'Making sure it was still there.'_ ). When he wasn't checking his car and had finished moving all of his boxes to his room, he was staring intently at all the vents or tapping the walls with his skull pressed to it. He completely ignored Papyrus and Blueberry's attempts to include him in their 'HELLO NEW ROOMMATE' gathering.

"WE JUST WANTED TO FORMAL INTRODUCE OURSELVES AND SAY HI TO OUR NEW ROOMMATE."

Y/n stared blankly back, her face hidden by the deep shadows of the vent.

Blueberry stepped forward "I AM THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY AND THIS-" he pulls Stretch to the front, "IS MY BROTHER STRETCH."

Stretch leaned back, another lollipop between his teeth, "yo, looking forward to getting to know you better y/n. but, ah, could you not prank my bro with things that'll hurt him, thanks" he crunched down on the lollipop, puncturing his sentence.

Y/n felt herself shiver; his stare was anything but friendly.

Papyrus posed, "AND I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND THIS LAZY SKELETON IN THE BLUE HODDIE IS SANS, MY BROTHER."

Sans smile grew, "hi kid. hopeful we'll actually get a chance to talk more in the future. i've got _pun_ derful, _punny_ puns to share with our new _pun_ kmate."

Papyrus's eye twitched and he took a deep breath before he pointed downwards in Edge's direction, "EDGE IS THE ONE WHO SORT OF LOOKS LIKE ME, BUT MUCH POINTER-"

"YOU LOOK LIKE ME, IDIOT!", Edge yelled from downstairs.

" -AND HIS BROTHER, RED, IS THE SKELETON OVER THERE, WEARING THE BLACK HODDIE WITH THE FUR."

Red was leaning on the opposite wall, watching the proceeding. When mentioned, he winked and cocked his finger.

Y/n was surprised to learn that they weren't all brothers, that only some of them were actually related. She had been working under the impression that this was just a large family of brothers.

_'Huh, wonder what the story there is?'_

"OH, WE'VE GOT YOU SOMETHING!" Blueberry pulled something from behind him, a present covered in so many streamers and glitter that it looked like a craft store exploded over it. He held it up to the vent, literal stars in his eyes, "IT'S A HOUSEMATE WARMING PRESENT!"

"getting you a housewarming present didn't make sense as, you know, you live here."

Sans chortled, "we certainly were shocked to get our gift."

Red flipped them all off, grumbling curses under his breath.

Y/n made no move to accept the present.

Blueberry's grin fell. "YOU DON'T WANT IT?

Stretch placed a hand on Blueberry's head, "nah bro, she's probably just shy. we should probably leave it here for her to get later."

"BUT I WANTED TO SEE HER FACE WHEN SHE OPENED IT", Blueberry looked dejected but lowered the present to the floor.

Sans shrugged, "i wouldn't worry about it blue. eventually, we'll all be the best of roommates."

Papyrus perked up, "THAT'S RIGHT, THE BEST OF ROOMMATES! .....EVENTUALLY."

Sans smiled grew, turning to address Papyrus, "we'll be fixing up the lab all day. can we trust you guys to handle up here?"

"YOU CAN COUNT ON US BROTHER!"

"YEA! WE'VE GOT IT SANS!"

Stretch chuckled, "never doubted it".

Sans, Stretch and Red left downstairs, leaving Papyrus and Blueberry standing back from the vent, looking at the present, wring their hand in anticipation.

After a moment, Papyrus spoke up, "I THINK, UM, I THINK WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ELSE? HUMANS DON'T COME OUT IF YOU'RE WATCHING THEM."

"OF COURSE! I KNEW THAT!"

They both dashed off into their rooms, busying themselves with unpacking. However, both of them would continually poke their head out, their faces changing from hopeful anticipation to disappointment, before withdrawing back into their rooms. Every minute.

Y/n, meanwhile, was staring intently at the present. Frankly, it looked awesome, covered in every colour and glitter. No way something like that could be a trap, right? They had even placed it near the ground vent! She could just grab it, drag it in and open it somewhere safe, right?

_'Curiosity killed the bitty.'_

Pushing that thought aside, she made her way over to the ground vent, the glittering gift inches from her. After watching Blueberry withdraw his head once again, Y/n pushed the vent wide open, rushed forward and dragged the present back in. Snapping the vents shut behind her, the metal *Clang* alerted Papyrus and Blueberry, as both skeletons came rushing out.

There was a moment before...

"*SQUEE!*" "*SQUEE!*"

"SHE TOOK IT! SHE ACCEPTED OUR HEART-FELT GIFT!"

"WE'RE GOING TO BE THE BESTEST OF ROOMMATES!"

"LET'S GO TELL OUR BROTHERS!" and sounds followed them as they both dashed downstairs.

Y/n stared blankly at the closed vents, still shocked that skeletons had actually squeed in her house. Shaking herself out of the daze, she turned her attention to the present.

It looked harmless enough, about the size of a ring box. There was no ticking noise or rattling noise, or indeed any sound. Gripping her pin, she used it to tear the ribbon holding the top to the bottom. With a cautions flip of her pin, she flipped the lid off. After nothing sprang at her and she unclenched, Y/n carefully looked into the box. It appeared to be a beige cloth. Confused, she reached inside, unfurling it.

It was a tightly folded cross-stitch of a large house with six skeletons standing outside, a small speck standing in the middle of the skeletons and large words embroidered above the house 'WELCOME TO OUR HOME.'

Y/n stared at the cross-stitch, processing. She didn't know what she was feeling, or how to feel about this. On one hand, it was touching that they (Papyrus and Blueberry at least) considered her a part of 'home', but she still wasn't ready to accept that. Hell, she didn't know if she wanted that. Even considering it made her feel like she was abandoning the memory of her family and her principles, almost like a traitor.

Carefully folding it into her bag, Y/n pushed aside the thought. Right now she was supposed to be watching the skeletons touching her things, not getting sentimental over something that probably didn't have any deeper meaning.

_'Man, I really need to stop reading into things. It's just a housemate warming gift, nothing more.'_

Y/n realised that Papyrus and Blueberry hadn't returned and she hadn't seen Edge for a long time.

_'Guess I need to go looking for them.'_

~*~

The first thing she noticed was smoke. The second thing she noticed was the loud voices of the boisterous skeletons were much louder and more panicked than they had ever been. With her own rising panic, Y/n slide down the ventilation system, following the smoke trial till she popped out in the kitchen.

Her lovely kitchen was on fire, with the stove seeming to be the source.

Three skeleton idiots were running around, yelling at each other, but Y/n hardly noticed them as she dived out of her air vent and landed straight on the kitchen counter. Next thing she knew, she was bolting towards the stove's knobs, currently being lapped in flames. Reaching as far as her arm would stretch, she managed to turn the knob around, turning it off. Suddenly, with a scream, she felt the fire touch her outstretched arm, bringing tears to her eyes. Yanking her hand back, she cradled her arm against her body.

Looking through her tears, she saw that, despite her efforts, the stove was still covered in flames.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

Turning to the skeletons, she saw one of them was returning with a bucket of water spilling over the sides.

"Stop! You'll only make it worse!!"

Papyrus stopped half-way through the motion of chucking the bucket's contents on the fire, causing him to spill water everywhere else in the room.

With a leap, Y/n landed on Blueberry, who was the closest, and climbed up to his shoulder."Y-Y/N?!"

"We need baking soda! Dump it on the flames!"

With a nod, Blueberry turned to the cardboards but was beaten to it by Edge, who already had the baking soda in one hand. With a deft hand, he dumped the entire box's content all over the stove, smothering most of the flames.

Y/n patted the side of Blueberry's head urgently, "We need damp cloths! Smother the rest of the flames!"

Papyrus and Blueberry tore off their neck accessories, plunging them into the bucket still half filled with water. Spilling the rest of the water of the floor, the two skeletons dumped the soaking accessories onto the fire, effectively putting out the last of the flames.

There was a collective sigh from everyone in the room.

Suddenly, Edge lunged forward, snatching Y/n from Blueberry's shoulder. Lifting her to his eye level, Edge's grin grew larger when he saw her squirming in his clutch, the way her breath hitched when his pointed phalanges dug into her body.

"PUT HER DOWN EDGE! RIGHT NOW!"

Edge laughed, looking down his nasal cavity at Blueberry, who matched his smug smirk with righteous indignation, "OR WHAT? WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLE DO TO STOP ME?"

Blueberry summoned a blue bone.

Papyrus took a deep breath. "SSAAN-"

Edge tossed Y/n to the kitchen counter, his glare turning back into a smirk as he watched her skid across the counter head first.

"ARE YOU OKAY Y/N?"

Y/n stood up slowly, brushing her clothes down in a pitiful attempt to maintain her dignity. With a heated glare at Edge, who returned it with a promise of retribution in his eyes, she instead looked back at Papyrus and Blueberry.

"Never mind that, what the hell do you think you're doing!?"

That shocked them; even Edge did a double take.

"Why are you trying to burn down my house?!"

"WE-WE WERE JUST TRYING TO COOK LUNCH."

"Look at my kitchen!"

Y/n flung out her arms in exasperation, inviting Papyrus and Blueberry to look at all the damage the fire had done around the room. When her arm stretched, she was suddenly reminded that she had just been burnt, as pain flooded her senses. With a hiss, she clung to her arm, bringing it closer to her body. She saw Edge's eyes focused on her arm's movement, which wasn't good. Pushing her pain down, she let go of her arm, returning her expression to glare at the skeletons. Edge's eye briefly met hers, before he looked away, scoffing.

Papyrus and Blueberry returned their gaze to Y/n's angry expression, their own expressions falling to the floor. _'Oh man, they look like I've just pureed their pet goldfish!'_

With a heavy sigh, Y/n crossed her arms, willing herself to be patient.

"What were you even trying to cook?"

Edge spoke up, "I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF CREATING MY INFAMOUS LASAGNE."

Blueberry was still looking at the floor, "I WAS MAKING TACOS."

"AND I JUST WANTED TO MAKE A HOUSE WARMING SPAGHETTI."

"Were you were all trying to cook at once?" when Papyrus and Blueberry nodded their head, she asked, "Then how did the flames start?"

Papyrus looked even more nervous, wring his hands while avoiding eye contact with Y/n, "I, ER."He took a deep breath, blurting out "THE STOVE BACK HOME NEVER BUST INTO UNCONTROLLABLE FLAMES!"

Y/n could feel herself getting more nervous, "Is that suppose to happen?"

"OF COURSE! HOW ELSE DOES ONE COOK, IF NOT WITH THE FIRES OF PASSION?"

When Blueberry nodded his agreement with Papyrus's statement (Edge was still refusing to be helpful), Y/n sighed, "Well, you're in a human kitchen now."

She leant forward, "That means you cook human recipes, use human cooking methods and follow all my instructions. No more setting fires to the human stove."

"ARE-ARE YOU OFFERING COOKING LESSON?"

She started as realisation came over her, "I, ha, I guess I sort of am. Yea."

Papyrus and Blueberry looked like they had just been told they were getting their own national holidays, their hands brought up to their mouths in a silent gasp of sheer joy and excitement. Edge looked he had just been told that Papyrus and Blueberry were getting their own holidays and he was responsible for setting it up.

"AND WHY WOULD WE BOTHER WITH THAT?", Edge asked in disdain.

She crossed her arms, giving Edge a once over with her glare, "Because I don't think you have enough skill to handle that cooking level. I think it's beyond you, Edge." _'And because I'm afraid to leave any of you alone in this kitchen.'_

"WHY YOU LITTLE PEST! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY UNQUESTIONABLE CULINARY SKILLS!!"

She yelled back, "Then prove it! Prove that you can cook human recipes! Prove that you can handle a human kitchen!" Y/n leaned back, levelling a sneer at Edge's vexed expression, "Or are you all sizzle and no steak?"

Papyrus and Blueberry watched the exchange like they were watching a tennis match.

"OH, I'LL SHOW YOU. YOU'LL BE EATING THOSE WORDS, PEST, WHEN YOU BEG ME FOR SOME OF MY PERFECTED PLATES." He laughed, "TOO BAD I'D NEVER SHARE WITH YOU! YOU COULD ALWAYS BEG ME FOR THE SCAPES, OR GO FORAGING FOR THEM FROM IN THE BIN!"

She turned away from Edge's immeasurable smugness, looking instead at the remaining skeletons, "All three of you in here isn't going to work. I think you need to nominate who cooks what meal from now on."

"I CLAIM DINNER."

"AWWWW", Papyrus and Blueberry lamented.

Blueberry piped up quicker, adding, "THAN, THAN I BAGS BREAKFAST! THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY!"

Edge spluttered "IT IS NOT! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT DINNER IS THE MOST ANTICIPATED MEAL OF THE DAY!"

"BUT NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT!"

"YOU-"

"Okay, that it! You guys need to clean up this kitchen and then you can leave Papyrus to prepare lunch."

Edge turned and left without so much as a backward glance.

"Asshole", Y/n muttered under her breath.

Papyrus walked over to the stove, opening it up to a waft of black smoke. While Y/n was dying from fumigation, neither Papyrus nor Blueberry so much as coughed. _'Guess skeleton monsters don't need to breathe.'_

Fluffing out a garbage bag, Papyrus reached in and dumped in the black smouldering remains of two somethings before collecting the black mess that looked like it used to be a pot, dumping it in too. With his remaining hand, he collected the two sopping neck accessories from where they had been left after the flame had been put out.

He turned and asked Blueberry, "BLUE, IF YOU MOP THE FLOORS, I'LL TAKE THIS OUT TO THE BINS AND GET THE WASHING MACHINES STARTED OF OUR CLOTHES."

"OH, THANK YOU PAPYRUS!", Blueberry puffed out his chest, "I'LL GET IT DONE."

Papyrus nodded, turning to leave, "I'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!"

Blueberry, meanwhile, was looking around, uncertainty.

"Blueberry, there's a bucket and mop in that pantry over there."

He looked to where she was pointing, "OH, THANK YOU Y/N"

Y/n hissed again when she returned her arm back to her side, forgetting about the injury once again. Blueberry, however, heard her this time, coming closer to look at her.

"Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY?"

She moved backwards, "Fine, just stay over there."

Blueberry looked momentarily shocked, before a downtrodden expression came over him, "YOU'RE HURT."

It wasn't a question.

"I'm fine."

He huffed, "NO YOU'RE NOT." Realisation came over him, "YOU-YOU GOT BURNED. IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN DO? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU NEED?"

_'He isn't going to leave me alone.'_

"I-I could do with an ice cube. Wrapped in something...please."

Blueberry was quick to get an ice cube and wrap it in a paper towel, placing it near her when she tensed up on his return approach. After he had respectfully backed up, Y/n gathered the ice cube, placing it on her arm. The relief was instantaneous.

"Thank you...Blue."

Blueberry suddenly had a blue glow come across his cheeks ( _'Zygomas?....wait, is that blushing? Skeletons can blush!?'_ ), "YOUR-YOUR WELCOME....Y/N". Then he quickly returned to mopping the floors.

Blueberry made short work of the floors, mopping up the excess water before wiping down all the wet surfaces. It was in this manner when Papyrus returned. His eyes briefly meet Y/ns, before he went over to Blueberry.

"NEED ANY HELP BLUE?"

Blueberry shock his head, "NOPE, I'M ALMOST DONE!" With a final dash across the kitchen top, Blueberry wrung out his cloth over the sink. "THERE! ALL DONE", he moved to the bucket and mop, "I-I'LL LEAVE YOU TWO TO YOUR COOKING LESSON".

He left.

Papyrus looked at Y/n, still clutching the ice cube, his expression sombre. "LITTLE HUMAN, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FAKE CRY AGAIN ARE YOU?"

Y/n started, looking up into Papyrus's serious expression, seeing hints of distrust there. She looked away. "I-I'm sorry that I did that", and she found that she genuinely felt bad for deceiving him.

There was a long pause.

"I FORGIVE YOU."

He perked up, "AFTER ALL, YOU HAD NO IDEA JUST HOW GREAT I AM OR HAVING ME AS A ROOMMATE IS GOING TO BE. NOW, LET ME SHOW YOU MY CULINARY SKILLS!"

Y/n was dazed as she considered Papyrus's word.

_'Roommate? He's actually serious, isn't he?'_

He moved towards the fridge, bending down to fetch out several ingredients, "LET ME KNOW IF YOUR ARM STARTS TO HURT YOU." he stood up, "I HAPPEN TO BE AN EXCELLENT HEALER," he posed, "A HUMAN EXPERT THEY SAY (I KNOW THAT YOU'RE A BITTY, BUT IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME THING) WITH BOUNDLESS KNOWLEDGE TO SHARE."

Y/n laughed, already feeling better, "Will do Papyrus."

He nodded, bring over all his collected ingredients onto the kitchen top she was sitting on. Curious, Y/n looked at what he had brought over.

"You want to make spaghetti?"

Papyrus shook his head, "I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE HUMAN SPAGHETTI." He looked so eager, he was practically bouncing with literal joy.

Y/n beamed, clapping her hands together, "Let's get started then."

~*~

"We don't punch the tomatoes! We crush them! With tools! And a pot!"

"BUT THAT SEEMS TO BE A MUCH SLOWER APPROACH! WHERE'S THE PASSION?"

"Cook with passion in your heart, not on your fists!"

Y/n couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun cooking ( _'Granted, it was more about reteaching Papyrus better strategies. At least Blueberry and Edge couldn't be this bad...right?'_ ), even when she had been full sized.

While Papyrus was crushing the tomatoes (with a proper tool and a pot!), Sans walked in, heading straight for the fridge. He was obviously surprised to see Papyrus and Y/n here ( _'Perhaps he was expecting more fire and yelling?'_ ), but not as surprised as Y/n was, who instantly tensed at his appearance.

_'How could I forget that there were other monsters? I'm too exposed here!'_

Papyrus, noticing her tense posture, turned to find Sans with one hand in the fridge and the air of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"SANS! THE LITTLE HUMAN IS HELPING ME TO COOK HUMAN SPAGHETTI!"

Sans's eye lights shifted to Y/n, who flinched, "that so bro? how's that going?"

"FABULOUS! I'M LEARNING SO MUCH! DID YOU KNOW THAT, WHEN COOKING HUMAN STYLE, FLAMES ARE A BAD SIGN? WHO KNEW!?"

Y/n didn't like Sans looking at her, "Um, Papyrus?"

He turned to Y/n, concerned, "IS YOUR ARM HURTING YOU?"

"what happened?"

"SHE BURNED HERSELF STOPPING THE FIRE EARLIER."

Okay, she couldn't take Sans looking at her any longer "Papyrus please!"

Papyrus came over at once, while Sans moved to the kitchen table, obviously deciding to stay, "WHAT'S WRONG?"

"I-I'd like to go back into the air vent."

Papyrus looked downtrodden, "BUT-BUT WE AREN'T DONE YET."

Y/n smiled reassuringly, "I'm not going away", she looked back at Sans and his continually stare, "I'd just like to sit up in the air vent"

"you don't need to worry about me kid. i'll leave if you want me to?"

Y/n instantly shook her head, looking back to Papyrus imploringly, "Please?"

Papyrus signed but offered his hand, which Y/n clambered into. With more g-force than she was use to, she was lifted to the vent, where she easily slid into. He looked back at her, obviously disappointed with this turn of events.

She cleared her throat, "Don't forget to continually stir slowly Papyrus, otherwise it'll burn the sauce."

"RIGHT." He definitely sounded down, but at least he was going back to the pot.

Sans rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable, "so, paps, that..um, that smells pretty good."

Papyrus sprung around, a spoon in his grip that flung sauce across the room, "REALLY?!"

Sans chuckled, wiping a spot of sauce off his hoodie and eating it, "yep."

"MY YEARS OF TRAINING ARE PAYING OFF!"

"i don't know about that", Sans winked at Y/n's air vent, "i think it might have to do with your little helper."

Just then, Blueberry popped his head in, "Y/N! Y/N?...UM, WHERE'S Y/N?"

Papyrus pointed to the air vent, where Y/n was sticking her hand out, waving.

"OH, Y/N! I KNOW I'M NOT SUPPOSE TO BE IN HERE, BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT EDGE IS MAKING TRAPS AROUND THE HOUSE!"

Sans muttered under his breath, "of course he is."

Y/n shrugged, "Thanks, Blue."

Blueberry's cheeks glowed blue once again, his eye lights shifting away from Y/n's inquisitive stare. "NO PROBLEM", and then he was gone.

Sans chuckled but didn't say anything when Papyrus gave him a question glance.

~*~

Sans being in the kitchen did little to stop the flow of progress Papyrus was making with lunch. Every now and then, Sans would make a pun that got Papyrus to scream in outrage while Y/n couldn't help but chortle. Their act was just priceless, Papyrus made for an awesome straight man!

Eventually, Stretch followed his brother's example and popped his head in too, "sans, red and i were just wondering if you'd like-"

Sans quickly cut him off, "actually, papyrus is making spaghetti for lunch, enough for the whole family."

Stretch started to sweat, "i, er, i thought we agreed to a truce."

Sans grin grew wider, "y/n helped him with it actually."

"y/n?"

"sure, can't you smell the difference?"

Stretch hesitated, his eyes shifting from Papyrus (who was eagerly waving, covered in sauce), to the pot, to Sans's grinning, poker face.

"y/n's going to be helping blueberry and edge too."

Stretch sighed, "how can i say no to that?"

"tell the others lunch will soon be ready."

Stretch left, waving a hand, "yea yea...red is not going to take this well."

Papyrus was beaming with so much pride that that Y/n was actually surprised his jaw hadn't snapped off with how strong his grin was.

Blueberry soon arrived, dragging dishes and cutlery out of the cardboard.

"I'LL SET THE TABLE FOR YOU PAPYRUS."

Papyrus looked away from his stirring, giving Blueberry a thumbs up, "THANKS, BLUE!"

Blueberry quickly left after a final look at Y/n's vent as Sans stood up with a stretch, "guess i'll head for the table."

He looked back to Papyrus, "need any help bro?"

Papyrus shook his head, his beam still present, "NOPE, I'M GOOD. I WON'T BE FAR BEHIND."

Sans shrugged and left.

Papyrus eagerly abandoned the spaghetti, moving to the air vent, "READY TO COME OUT FOR LUNCH?"

"I'm not joining you for lunch Papyrus."

His beaming smile slipped, "BUT, BUT WHY NOT? YOU HELPED COOK IT, THE LEAST YOU DESERVE IS A SERVING!"

Y/n sighed, "I don't feel comfortable with going out there Papyrus."

_'There's that 'pureed pet goldfish' look again.'_

Y/n laughed awkwardly, "We'll have to cook something else next time, seeing as how you've mastered human spaghetti."

Papyrus gasped, "YOU KNOW MORE RECIPES?!"

She laughed in earnest this time, "Go on Papyrus, you have skeletons who are wasting away to nothing back there."

Papyrus looked briefly offended before he vanished from the kitchen, taking his pot with him.

_'Huh, I guess that was pretty offensive.'_

Before she could third guess her joking skills, Papyrus returned holding a saucer plate with a serving of spaghetti on it. Before she could object, he popped off the vent, sliding the plate towards her.

"WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH THE PLATE, JUST LEAVE IT HERE." He clicked the vent back into place, casting a final glance back at her as he made his way out of the kitchen, "I KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT ON YOUR PLATE."

He left with his "NYEH HEH HEH" trailing after him and a shocked Y/n staring after him.

~*~

Y/n finished the meal quickly enough ( _'Not half bad, defiantly room for improvement though.'_ ) but she did have trouble climbing the ventilation system with hands covered in sauce. After a quick bath in her hidden room, Y/n spent the rest of the afternoon following the skeleton's progression to move in.

Edge was the first one completely moved in ( _'Might have to do with the fact he had more time to move in when he should have been helping to clean the kitchen?'_ ), but his room was fairly plain. There were a few action figures, a large mirror and a laptop on a desk. He had taken off the bed sheets and replaced them with what looked like black satin sheets. The curtains had also been replaced (black), cutting all light from the room. What was most interesting to her was what she saw at the air vent leading to his room's entrance. A trip wire. To what, she didn't know or what to know. However, she did have fun by-passing it and drawing on the mirror, 'Y/n was here', with a little stick figure doodle of her flipping the bird, in hot pink crayon. If the jackwagon was going to attempt to capture her, he could bear the grunt of her passive aggression. She, however, remained on the outlook for more traps from then on, particular near the entrances to the air vents.

Papyrus and Blueberry spent the rest of the afternoon integrating their things with the stuff they had decided not to pack away. Each kept looking at the air vents, sometimes asking if she was watching them. She never replied, of course, content to watch them unpack, looking for things she could use for later plans. She did notice that Papyrus and Blueberry had similar tastes in room decorum, however, but with a few key differences.

Jake's room ( _'Blueberry's room, for now, I guess.'_ ) had been filled with toys fit for a ten-year-old boy. Blueberry had either packed away or gotten rid of most of the random toys, giving the room much more space than she ever remembered it having. Now the room actually had floor space, with a giant moon rug and an area with a computer setup. The bookshelves looked like most of the books had remained, but now there were many action figures on top of them. Blueberry had also screwed wooden panels onto the bed, making it look like some sort of rocket ship and plastered the ceiling with glow-in-the-dark star stickers.

Her room, by contrast ( _'lol, guess what mum? There's a boy in my room!'_ ) had been filled with geeky stuff. Weird toys, abstract collectables and fanart covered the walls in all her geek fandom. Papyrus had taken most of the posters down, putting up a Jolly Roger flag instead. Her once active computer area soon had a new laptop, a flame decorated floor rug ( _'His cooking skills in art form?'_ ) and her old bed also got custom wooden panel job. Where Blueberry had a rocket, Papyrus had a red racing car, not unlike the appearance of his car outside. He also had his own many action figures, which were placed around the entire room.

She hadn't seen Sans, Stretch and Red since lunch. At first, she assumed they were in their rooms, like their brothers, but travelling to each room showed that the boxes remained where they were dumped, unopened and certainly still packed, with no skeletons to be seen. Looking in the front yard showed all the cars were still here and no one was in the backyard. In panic, she had even glided over to the workshop, but everything was still there and no one was in there. Walking back had been a pain and the sun had set by the time she made it.

When she finally made it to the kitchen, she was met with an impatient Edge, tapping his foot while glaring at the clock.

"Ready to get started?"

Edge turned sharply to glare at the air vent Y/n had pressed herself against, smirking at his posture.

He scoffed, "I'VE BEEN READY FOR HOURS! IF I KNEW YOU COULDN'T TELL THE TIME, I WOULDN'T HAVE BOTHERED TO SHOW UP!" he posed, "THERE ARE PLENTY OF MONSTERS WHO WOULD KILL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IN MY PRESENCE AND BASK IN MY CULINARY SKILLS"

She ignored the comment, "So, what are we cooking tonight?"

Edge's glare turned into a smile, putting Y/n on the highest of alerts, "ACTUALLY, WHY DON'T YOU COME OUT HERE? WHAT SORT OF TEACHER TEACHES FROM AFAR ANYWAY?"

She rolled her eyes, "What kind of hunter asks his prey to step into his trap?"

He spluttered, "TRAP?! WHAT TRAP? I DON'T SEE ANY TRAP."

"I'm not stupid Edge, and I don't trust you. If you want to capture me, you need to be much smarter and subtler than that. A five-year-old could tell you're lying right now!" Edge started to protest, but she stuck out her hand, silencing him, "Nothing you can say is going to make me leave this vent. So we can either waste time or we can get cooking."

Edge's glare narrowed, before he huffed, "WE'RE HAVING LASAGNA". He straightened, "A MUCH BETTER CHOICE THAN THAT POOR EXCUSE OF SPAGHETTI WE HAD EARLIER TODAY." He mockingly sighed, "BUT I GUESS THAT WHAT'S HAPPENS WHEN A BAD STUDENT GETS A WORSE TEACHER."

"Are you going to sizzle all night, or are you ready to cook?", _'You massive jackwagon.'_

Edge grinned, "BRING IT."

~*~

Edge was a worse cook that Papyrus, hands down. Where Papyrus has the worst technique she thought possible, Edge seemed to be actively trying to kill people with his cooking. At least with Papyrus's cooking you'd live to never want to try it again.

"WHAT TYPE OF POOR EXCUSE FOR LASAGNA DOESN'T HAVE VINEGAR IN IT?"

"The type without glass Edge, the edible type."

He rolled his eye lights, "PLEASE! IF YOU DIE FROM A TINY BIT OF GLASS, YOU WEREN'T WORTHY OF EATING MY MEALS."

"Only you could serve food with experience points", she muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"I said you still suck at cooking human style."

"IF I SUCK, WHICH I DON'T, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE-."

"er, boss?", Red was peering into the kitchen, dripping what could only be described as oil. Y/n stared, 'what has he been up too?'

Edge rounded on his brother, clearly irritated with the interruption, "WHAT IS IT RED?", then he noticed the oil, "AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT, YOU'RE DRIPPING OIL EVERYWHERE!"

"i, er, i was just wondering how long dinner was gonna be?"

Edge turned back to the stove, watching the lasagna cook, waving back a dismissal hand at Red, "YOU CAN TELL THE OTHERS TO BE PATIENT! PERFECTION TAKES TIME."

The timer dinged and Edge grin grew as he took the lasagna from the oven, "LUCKY FOR THEM, I AM ALMOST DONE."

"yea, it actually smells pretty good in here."

Edge whirled on Red, "OF COURSE IT DOES! I AM A CULINARY GENIUS AFTER -"

Then his expression became darker, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'ACTUALLY'?!"

Red started to sweat, "see, what i, er meant by that-"

"I DON'T CARE", Edge looked back to his cooling lasagne, "GO WASH UP AND TELL THE OTHERS THEY BETTER BE WELL PRESENTED FOR DINNER OF THEY WILL SUFFER MY WRATH!"

Red quickly left, only for Papyrus to replace him.

"HI EDGE", he waved at the air vent, "HI LITTLE HUMAN."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT CREAMPUFF?" Edge glowered.

"I CAME IN TO SET THE TABLE FOR YOU. BLUE'S MAKING SURE OUR BROTHERS ARE CLEAN AND READY FOR DINNER."

Edge scoffed, "GOOD, THEN YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL."

Papyrus smiled good-naturedly while Y/n glared at Edge, "Rude."

"OH PLEASE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT 'RUDE' IS."

"So you're telling me that was you being nice?"

Papyrus left with empty dishes, silverware and the lasagna, not the Y/n or Edge noticed.

"VERY NICE, ACTUALLY", he leaned towards the air vent, scowling "YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO SEE ME 'RUDE'."

There were so many obvious jokes there, but she decided it probably wasn't worth aggravating him further (although she certainly had fun making about a dozen of jokes she could have possibly said in her mind). Instead, she asked, snickering "Think you can handle a different recipe next time?"

"LIKE YOU COULD POSSIBLE KNOW MORE THAN THIS", then he started, "WAIT, NEXT TIME?"

"Sure, unless you want to give up because you found today too hard?"

In truth, cooking with him hadn't been such a terrible experience, but he was nowhere near the level where she could trust him not to start a house fire.

It took Edge awhile to answer. When he did, he sneered, "TODAY WAS THE EASIEST LESSON I'VE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF SUFFERING THROUGH! THERE IS NOTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLE TEACH ME THAT I WILL NOT FIND BORINGLY SIMPLE." He threw his head back, "NYAH HAH HAH, SOON I WILL MASTER THE PITIFUL ART OF 'HUMAN COOKING STYLE' AND YOU WILL BE BEGGING FOR THE SCRAPES!"

Papyrus entered the kitchen, carrying a saucer plate with a small serving of the lasagna, "HERE YOU GO Y/N, HOPE YOU'RE HUNGRY!" He looked confused, raising his hand to point high above the vent, "EDGE WHAT'S-?"

Edge snatched the plate from Papyrus, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? FEEDING THE PEST WILL ONLY ENCOURAGE IT!"

"SANS SAYS Y/N SHOULD GET A SERVING AS WELL."

Edge glared at Papyrus, who continued to smile good-naturedly.

"FINE! YOU CAN LEAVE US NOW" Edge huffed.

Papyrus left, leaving Y/n to stare at Edge holding a plate of hot food and considering his options. He turned to the vent, a smirk predominate of his features. "BEG ME FOR IT, AND I MAY GIVE IT TO YOU...IF YOU ASK NICELY, OF COURSE."

The smell wafted over her, making her mouth water. It had been a long time, before today, since she last had a hot meal. However, she could see Edge dumping it straight in the bin once she begged, so she tried a different approach, "Nah, no thanks, I don't want that."

Edge spluttered, his skull slowly turning red, "WH-WHAT?!"

Y/n shrugged, "Yea, I don't think I want-"

Unfortunately, her stomach decided then to growl its displeasure, echoing around the vent. Edge and Y/n stared blankly at each other before she turned to the vent's wall, trying to hide her embarrassment from the smug bastard.

He laughed, "NYAH HAH HAH! WELL, MAYBE YOU DON'T, MAYBE YOU DO, BUT YOUR STOMACH IS FAR MORE HONEST THAN YOU ARE! IT'S DESPERATE TO GET JUST A TASTE OF MY SUPERB COOKING SKILLS!"

He placed the plate under the vent, on the kitchen countertop.

"AND, AFTER ALL, A GOOD HUNTER KNOWS WHAT TYPE OF BAIT TO USE TO LURE IN HIS PREY." He left the kitchen, his smugness following him out.

Y/n flipped off his retreating back, looking down at the plate. No doubt, there was a trap quite near her. The question was; did she risk it for food?

_'Forget that! Is it worth proving Edge wrong?'_

"Hell yea."

Lucky for her, there were other vents. Abandoning this one, with a prize so tantalising close, Y/n walked through the ventilation system, walking around till she popped out near the dining room. From her viewpoint on the ground level, the dining table housed a forest of hanging tibias and fibulas stuck in an assortment of slippers, shoes and boots. Sticking to the edges, she made her way towards the kitchen.

"did y/n get her food edge?"

"NOT YET, BUT SHE WILL SOON. YOU KNOW HOW SHY SHE CAN BE."

"WHY ARE YOU RUBBING YOUR HANDS TOGETHER?"

"ER-NO REASON! IT'S COLD IN HERE! STOP STARING AT ME."

"lasagna's good tonight edge, remind me to send y/n a bouquet of flowers."

"AND WHAT'S THE SUPPOSE TO MEAN ASHTRAY?!"

There was the sound of hands slamming onto the table top, a near-by chair squeaking as someone kept bouncing up and down, "I'M SO EXCITED!! I'M COOKING BREAKFAST WITH Y/N TOMORROW MORNING! I CAN HARDLY WAIT! I WOUNDER WHAT WE'LL COOK?"

Y/n left behind the bickering family, climbed up the draws kitchen to pulling herself up to the bench. From this side of the vent, she could see what was waiting for her.

"A drop cage. Really?"

There was a cage hanging above the vent, and it looked like it was rigged to trigger when the vent was pushed out.

The first thing she did was grab a paper towel, wrapping the lasagna securely, before placing it in her bag for later, safer consumption. Then she turned to the empty plate and the rigged trap, considering her options.

Figuring she should keep the tradition going, she used the stray sauce to draw a rudimentary drawing of her flipping the bird on the plate. Chuckling, she looked back at the trap.

There was no way she could enter the vent without setting it off. She could disable it, easily even, but doing so would still cause a lot of noise. Shrugging, she decided she'd go back the way she had come, let him figure out how she got the food without setting it off.

"MAYBE WE CAN WATCH A MOVIE TONIGHT? SEEING AS IT'S OUR FIRST NIGHT LIVING HERE?"

"does anyone know which box has all the movies in it?"

"WE CAN ALWAYS WATCH ONE OF Y/N'S MOVIES! I CAN ASK HER!"

"ha! like she'd help with that. haven't you got it through your' thick skull yet? She don't want us here."

"BESIDES, WHY SUBJECT US TO SUB-PAR HUMAN ENTERTAINMENT?"

"i don't know, seems to me that the 'human' stuff is two for two so far."

Y/n entered the vent, climbing back to her hidden room. If the monsters wanted to watch one of her movies, there wasn't a lot she could do to stop them, short of going to the power box.

She actually enjoyed her meal that night, listing to the voices of the skeletons echo through the ventilation system as they ate and then cleared the table. She was reminded how long it had actually been since the house had life in it. As it was, it took Blueberry a few times calling her name before she noticed his voice coming from a level below her.

With a quick wash of her hands and face, Y/n slid down the system, following Blueberry's call. She neared the living room, to see an eye light peering in.

"Y/N! THERE YOU ARE! CAN YOU HELP ME PICK A MOVIE, PLEASE?"

Y/n approached the vent's bars, sitting just short of actually touching them and the eye light still peering in.

"Sure! You should definitely pick one on the shelves."

There was a chorus of chortles from behind Blueberry, who looked annoyed by the blatant miscommunication.

"I DIDN'T MEAN-WHAT I MEANT WAS- URGH! CAN YOU PLEASE HELP TO SELECT A SPECIFIC HUMAN MOVIE?!", he moved away, walking back over to the shelf, allowing Y/n to see the rest of the room.

Edge had claimed an armchair by himself, with Sans leaning heavily upon the remaining one. Stretch and Red were on the main couch, behind the pile of pillows and blankets that covered the floor. Papyrus's voice could be heard coming from the kitchen, wondering aloud why he had been banned from using the stove and instead had to rely on the microwave for preparing popcorn. Blueberry himself was standing in front of her movies, gazing at the shelves of DVDs and Bluerays.

Y/n sighed, "The bottom shelf are TV series, the next shelf are my horrors, then the sci-fic and fantasies, then the live comedies, the adult cartoon comedies, the anime shows and movies, the kid shows, the kid movies and the last shelf is the rest of the stuff that doesn't fall into those other categories."

Stretch chuckled, "what type of movies would they be?"

"can't you guess? that's the 'definitely not for kids' shelf" Red purred.

Y/n rolled her eyes, looking back to Blueberry, twisting his hands together.

"THERE- THERE'S SO MANY" he threw his hands up, "I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE TO PICK!"

"WELL HURRY UP AND PICK ONE! LET'S JUST GET THIS OVER WITH ALREADY. THIS WAS YOUR IDEA AFTER ALL!"

"don't worry about it, bro. whatever movie you pick will be just fine."

"yea, nothin' you could pick isn't goin' to suck, so just pick somethin' already."

Blueberry turned his panic stare from Red to Y/n, desperate.

Y/n signed, leaning into the bars, peering into the room and trying to read the titles from across the room. She quickly realised that wasn't going to work, "I can't see from here Blue."

He perked up, "I'LL JUST CARRY YOU ACROSS."

Y/n backed up, waving her arms, "No."

Edge glowered, his grip on the armrest threatening to tear holes into the material, "WILL YOU JUST HURRY UP ALREADY?!"

Blueberry looked away from Edge to Y/n, "Y/N, PLEASE."

Y/n could feel her resolve crumberling. _'Why does saying no to this monster make me feel like an actual monster?'_

She nodded, her eyes trained on Edge and Red in particular. So it was she barely caught the triumphant smile that spread across Blueberry's skull.

He offered his hand, which she slowly maneuvered herself onto. Once she was on, she clung to his thumb, one hand unconsciously placed on her pin. He quickly walked them across the room, levelling his hand to one of the shelves. She quickly hopped down, her back pressed against the DVDs. Blueberry stood back, looking over the shelves, while the rest of the skeleton family was staring at her.

"Y/N?"

She flinched, looking up to see Blueberry looking down at her in concern. He noticed where her focus was, and choose to deliberately step in the viewing path of the rest of the room. He nodded to her with an understanding smile, which she gladly returned.

With a deep breath, she turned to look at the shelf she happened to be on.

_'Guess it's a kids movie tonight.'_

Personally, she was fine with that. In fact, she had the perfect movie in mind, one of her favourites that she hadn't been able to watch for a long time. Moving quickly to it, she pulled it out. "Try this."

Blueberry picked it up, looking over the case, "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON?"

"It's one of my favourites."

He nodded, taking the DVD off the shelf and moving to the entertainment system. With him gone, she quickly noticed that every single eye light was focused on her, including Papyrus who had just walked back with two bowls of popcorn.

Noticing her pressed to the DVDs, Papyrus walked over to Y/n, offering his hand, "WANT TO GO BACK, LITTLE HUMAN?" She saw Blueberry stop whatever he was doing to glare at Papyrus for some reason.

She nodded and quickly moved onto his hand, happy to see the looming safety of her vent. Once she was safely inside, she turned to see Papyrus offering her a piece of popcorn, which she gladly took.

"PAPYRUS! Y/N SHOULD BE OUT HERE WITH US, ENJOYING THE MOVIE AND POPCORN!"

Papyrus passed one of the bowls off to Stretch, before settling into the blankets and pillows on the floor.

"if she wants to come out, she knows she can sit with us bro." Stretch popped a few pieces into his mouth.

Red leaned over, grabbing a fist full, "or she can always climb into my lap."

Sans's eye glowed blue, a pile of popcorn lifting and settling into his lap, "i've got the cinematic view over here and state-of-the-arts butt support over here."

"OH MY GOD! CAN WE GET THIS OVER WITH ALREADY!?"

As the movie started, she recalled, fondly, the first time she saw this movie. She didn't have the highest of expectations of it, but then...Toothless. What wasn't to love? As the movie started, she happily chewed on her piece of popcorn, kind of hoping the monsters enjoyed it.

~*~

It seemed that they did. Both Papyrus and Blueberry were staring transfixed at the screen, marvelling out loud the quality of the animations and all the cool dragons. Edge had stopped crossing his arms and was actually settling into his seat. Red had chuckled at the lines "we have stubborn-ness issues", although both Sans and Stretch didn't seem to like all the fighting. 'Which was a kind of the movie's point, I guess.'

"Stay... put...there.........................you know what I mean."

*Snort!*

Y/n's hands flew to her mouth, mortified.

There was a long pause.

Then the room below her busted out laughing.

"did she just....?", Sans wasn't able to finish that sentence.

"that has got to be the cutest sound i've ever heard", Stretch winked up to the air vent, wiping away a fake tear.

Y/n felt the blood flood her face, her ears burning with shame. Standing up, she climbed the system back to her room, the echoes of their chortles following. Moments later she found herself buried under her blanket and pillows.

_'I snorted?! Why?! I've already seen that movie!'_

Suffice to say, sleep didn't come quickly that night.

~*~

Later that night, Y/n awoke from a dream where spotlights were laughing at her, to the cry of "PEST!" echoing through the ventilation system. She snuggled back into her pillow, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.

_'Guess who found the mirror message?'_

 

 Next chapter is called: Colourful Language


	3. Colourful language

Y/n woke up early the next morning, but that wasn't unusual now. Before, she had been quite the night owl, enjoying long nights and longer sleep-ins. Now, she was one of those dreaded 'morning people'. It felt wrong to admit that, but that was just one of the few changes that had occurred when she became a bitty. Now she could fall from greater heights, lift twice her weight, heal quicker and needed very little sleep. That last one still upsets her, even to this day, because who doesn't love a good sleep in?

_'Hopefully, the skeletons agree with that sentiment.'_

Grinning evilly, Y/n turned to her trusty old phone (that was just about as tall as she was now), considering her options. After last night's mortification, she was looking forward to some payback. It took her a while but, upon finding the perfect tool, she placed her phone into her backpack, making her way through the ventilation system.

She popped out in the main vent leading to the bedrooms and the stairs. The sunlight was just barely streaming in from the front windows and all was quiet on this early morning. She turned back to her propped phone, waiting for her input.

*Click*

 

_"Wake me up before you go-go_

_don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!"_

 

The music shattered the quite like glass, the speakers at full volume as Y/n danced along, spinning and singing out the lyrics as loud as she could.

 

_"Wake me up before you go-go_

_I don't wanna miss it when you hit that high!"_

 

She thought she could hear thumps coming from the bedrooms closest to her, but it could have easily been the sound of how hard she was rocking this song!

 

_"!Wake me up before you go-go_

_'cause I'm not planning on going solo_

_Wake me up before you go-go_

_take me dancing tonight!"_

 

She was really enjoying the dance and was actually upset that she hadn't started the song from the beginning. Regardless, she was having the time of her life! Man, it had been a long time since she felt this jazzed!

"Y/N?"

 _"I wanna hit that high, yeah yeah!"_ Y/n threw her hands up as she nailed that high note!

"Y/N!"

Y/n and the phone were suddenly pulled out into the open, surrounded by a blue glow. Next thing she knew, she once again found herself in a bone hand with her phone pressed against her back. She struggled to free herself as she felt the hand move and jostle as, whoever had her, ran somewhere else. Panicking, not expecting to be caught a mere 30 seconds into her jam, she bit whoever had her. There was a gasp of pain and then a free-falling sensation as she was dropped.

"Y/N!"

She was once again encased in a blue glow, only this time she was prepared for it. Struggling, she dissipated the glow, resuming her fall to the floor. The phone clattered one way while she bolted the other direction.

"YOU-YOU BIT ME?! WHY?"

As Y/n dived underneath the nearby high hall table, she realised that her attacker hadn't gone far, taking her to the landing of the stairs, where the main hall was. She watched as multicoloured runners with some sort of added 3D-wings design moved quickly to her fallen phone, picking it up.

"Blue?"

Blueberry was wearing some sort of neon workout assemble that, ironically, didn't have a cohesive colour theme. It was the type of outfit that could make blind people suddenly see colours. If he did have a theme, it was layers. Not shirts, but sweatbands, headbands and socks. Y/n couldn't guess just how many different articles of clothing he was wearing, but she was fairly sure he managed to get all the colours.

While she stared at her 80's nightmare, he fumbled with her phone as it continued to play. After a few seconds, he managed to pause the song, sighing loudly.

He looked down at her, his hands on his hips, tapping his winged shoes, "Y//N, WHILE I APPRECIATE A GOOD SONG TO GO WITH A MORNING WORKOUT, COULD YOU PLEASE NOT PLAY YOUR MUSIC WHERE IT WILL WAKE MY BROTHER?"

"I wasn't-"

"YOU HAD SOME PRETTY COOL MOVES THOUGH", Blueberry said, looking thoughtful.

"You saw that?!"

"BLUEBERRY, DID YOU FIND WHATEVER WAS MAKING THAT NOISE?"

Blueberry turned to answer Papyrus in the other room. "IT WAS Y/N DANCING! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT."

Y/n buried her head, unable to look up. That was until she felt the ground shake. Looking up in alarm, she saw Papyrus jogging in place next to Blueberry, looking down at her curiously.

"REALLY?

Papyrus's outfit was less colourful, but more revealing. Y/n couldn't keep her eyes off his spine, how it bent and swayed with his exaggerated movement. His crop top barely covered the bottom of his ribs, let alone his short shorts that revealed the top of his pelvis bone. Frankly, she felt like she was seeing something indecent like she was seeing someone who forgotten to tie the front of their bathrobe.

Her face burned red and felt hot to the touch as she reburied her head in her hands.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE PEST?"

Y/n flinched, looking up to see Edge glowering down at her. He at least had a theme going on (supervillain). His shorts were, by far, a tighter fit than Papyrus's or Blueberry's and, sure, his boots looked like the type that Saints Row called 'stripper' boots and yea it, overall, had too much black and...wait, was that shirt open on the side? Edge's shirt covered the front okay, but it was completely open all the way from top to bottom, with only a small section at its base keeping it from flapping. She could see how his ribs were covered in nicks and cracks and some of them looked like they would casue him pain if they were touched. As if he felt her staring, Edge's scowl deepened as he turned to his side, hiding his ribs from her sight.

"I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE SHE'S EMBARRASSED?"

"Y/N, ARE YOU EMBARRASSED?"

Edge was stretching all his joints now, bending and pulling his outfit all over his body, the pants in particular were moving up- ( _'No! Not going there!!'_ ).

She began to hysterically giggle.

"OF COURSE SHE'S EMBARRASSED! SHE HAS TO SEE YOUR RIDICULES OUTFITS."

"I DON'T THINK THAT'S IT, I THINK SHE'S EMBARRASSED BECAUSE BLUEBERRY CAUGHT HER DANCING."

"THAT CAN'T BE IT, HER DANCING WAS SO AWESOME! SHE WAS DOING COOL MOVES LIKE THIS!" Blueberry began to spin and twirl with his arms up in a poor, ( _'Or completely accurate'_ ) embarrassing imitation of her dancing.

"Okay! That it, I'm out!" She moved out from under the table, making her way towards the ground vent to start the process of repressing this memory.

"Y/N, DON'T GO! WE WANTED TO ASK YOU A QUESTION."

She was unable to look at them, but stayed, "what is it?"

"DID YOU OPEN OUR GIFT YET?"

"DID YOU LIKE IT?!"

Y/n looked back to see that Papyrus and Blueberry were squatting near her, with Edge still stretching in the distance. She steadfastly refused to look at Papyrus and how, from this angle, his outfit revealed-

"Y-yes?" she squeaked.

They lowered themselves closer to her, both of them revealing just a bit more.

"YOU OKAY Y/N?"

"YOU'VE GONE RED ALL OVER. CAN BITTIES CHANGE COLOURS?!"

"I'm fine!" She folded her arms, staring pointedly above their heads, willing the blush to leave already! "Um, yes, your present. It-it was nice and I liked it and, u-um, thank you."

They're faces lit up (literally, Blueberry was glowing blue while Papyrus was glowing a pinkish red) as their smiles grew larger.

"I KNEW IT!"

"WE PUT IT A LOT OF WORK (ALTHOUGH IT WAS NOTHING FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS)!"

"WHERE IS IT NOW?"

Both of them were lying on the ground at this point, hands holding up their skulls while their feet crossed and uncrossed behind them.

She rubbed her head, looking away, "it's in my room" ( _'Still folded in a corner, but that's where it is.'_ ).

"AND WHERE EXACTLY IS THAT?" Y/n and the two laying skeletons looked back at Edge.

She scoffed, "Like I'm going to tell you."

Papyrus and Blueberry, however, were now looking at each other.

"Y/N, WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT?"

She stiffened, her fists clenched to her sides.

"That's none of your concern." She turned to go, "I'll, I'll see for your cooking lesson when you get back Blueberry."

She left, climbing the up ventilation system.

"Y/N, I'M SORRY!"

"WE DIDN'T MEAN TO UPSET YOU!"

She paused in the vent's shadows.

"I know" she whispered back.

~*~

Y/n had calmed down a bit (although she sure wished the memories would stop, or at least stop playing in slow motion!) by the time she found herself sitting back in the bedroom landing vent. Blueberry still had her phone (she realised that much later than she wanted to admit), which meant she had to think of something different.

_"-COULD YOU PLEASE NOT PLAY YOUR MUSIC WHERE IT WILL WAKE MY BROTHER?-"_

She shook her head, Blue's plea still ringing in her ears. Why did she feel guilty? She shouldn't feel guilty! This was her home and these guys were intruding. She should be thinking about what else she could do to these guys, not...

_"-COULD YOU PLEASE NOT PLAY YOUR MUSIC WHERE IT WILL WAKE MY BROTHER?-"_

"Okay fine! I won't 'wake' them up." She stood, climbing back to her room. If she couldn't wake them, there was still plenty she could do. She just needed to get a few things first.

~*~

Half an hour later, Y/n found herself back in the bedroom landing vent, looking at the doors and ready to get started.

She didn't have to wait long.

"what the...?"

Sans muffled, confused voice came first, followed by his confused and slightly irritated face as he opened the door, still dressed in his sleeping gear.

"y/n, why did you-?"

*thud*

Sans landed face-first on the carpet, his feet tangled up in fishing line that had been tied around the door's entrance.

"what the....?"

Stretch came out then, looking at his hands in confusion.

Sans rolled his head to the side, "stretch, watch out."

"why?"

He tripped, but as he fell, something weird happened around his body. Before she could even process what she saw, Stretch was standing next to his door.

"really y/n?"

"oh fuckin come on!"

Red's door slammed open, with him storming out and looking pissed. "where is that little-!"

"red, watch your feet."

Red looked from Stretch, down to the door's entrance. He eyed the tripwire before raising one foot to deliberately stand on it.

He looked back up, deep shadows under his eye lights, "okay, now can i kill it?"

Stretch lit up a cigarette in his teeth, using his left hand, "better not red."

"my hands are covered in what had better be glue, there was that stupid song that scared me outta my skin at the crack of dawn and you're still on its side?!" Red's eye flashed red.

Stretch shrugged, "no doubt the intention was to annoy us." He waved the cigarette in his direction, "is it working red?"

Red folded his arms, scowling, "don't even pretend you aren't as pissed off as i am."

Stretch shrugged, looking over at Sans, "why you still on the floor sans?"

"i'm kinda stuck" came his muffled reply.

Red rolled his eye lights, "get up ya lump, ain't no one here is goin to help you."

"yea, that sounds like a lot of work. sorry buddy, you're on your own."

Sans sighed heavily, raising himself off the ground, "worth a try." He turned to look at Red, "you're not shocked that she's still doing this red?"

Red growled, "oh, you better believe it." He turned to look at the main vent, "don't worry precious, i'll be getting my revenge soon enough."

Y/n pressed herself to the vent, looking down at Red. "Bring it Gollum", and then left.

"what the fuck is gollum?"

~*~

Overall, she was in a pretty good mood. It started about ten minutes go when she heard Red scream's echoing from the bathroom "why is the hand soap filled with cookin oil!?!"

Now she sat in the dining room vent, watching three skeletons slumped in their chairs, sucking different condiments from bottles ( _'Weird, but I can use that.'_ ). All of them had dark shadows under their eyes, their forms almost disappearing into their different hoodies. Sans was reading a newspaper (or pretending to while taking a nap, she couldn't tell), Stretch was leaning back and staring at the ceiling, sucking on another lollipop that had replaced the cigarette he already had and Red was drumming his fingers, glaring up at her in her air vent.

"how much longer we gotta wait?"

Sans shrugged, "do you want to get started only to stop halfway?"

Red grumbled, narrowing his eyes as he continued to state at her.

*BAM*

"HA, FIRST!"

"ONLY BECAUSE I HAD TO CHECK ON MY CAR. YOU GOT LUCKY THIS TIME."

"YOU BOTH HAVE ABSURDLY LONG LEGS."

"AWW, IS THE BABY-BONES UPSET THAT HE CAN'T KEEP UP WITH THE ADULTS?"

"I'M OLDER THAN YOU!!"

Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge moved into the dining room, barely looking worse for wear.

"how was the jog?"

Papyrus gasped, staring at Sans like he had just seen a ghost (the regular, scary type, not a possible friend one.)

"YOU'RE ALL UP EARLY?!"

"y/n gave us a wakeup call."

"yea, she's got us fallin for her." Red muttered darkly.

Blueberry looked like he was going to say something, only to be overridden by Edge, "GOOD, AT LEAST THAT PEST IS GOOD FOR ONE THING."

Blueberry felt around his outfit, eventually pulling out Y/n's phone. He looked confused but shrugged it off. "Y/N, I HAVE YOUR PHONE."

Red perked up, "y/n's phone?"

The phone was suddenly encased in a red glow and swiftly pulled from Blueberry's hand into Red's waiting grip. With an evil smirk, he fiddled with the phone, doing something that Y/n couldn't see.

"Give that back!", she snapped at him.

Red didn't even look up, "nah."

Sans pushed down his newspaper, "red."

He rolled his eye lights, Red chucked the phone onto the table. Sans picked it up, stood up and made his way over to Y/n.

"UM, Y/N? COULD, COULD I HAVE YOUR NUMBER?"

Sans and Y/n looked to Papyrus, who looked hopeful.

"why?" "Why?"

"I'D LIKE TO STAY IN CONTACT WITH Y/N."

Sans lowered his arms, looking thoroughly confused, "but paps, she lives here, she doesn't go anywhere else. why would you need her number?"

Papyrus looked directly up at Y/n, "I HAVE ALL MY FRIENDS NUMBERS. I'D LIKE TO GET Y/N'S.'"

Blueberry piped up, waving a hand, "OHH, OHHH, ME TOO! Y/N, CAN I PLEASE HAVE YOUR NUMBER ALSO?"

Still thoroughly confused, she absently nodded. The two skeletons beamed as Sans handed her phone to them, watching them add their names to her phone.

"THERE, GOT IT! THANKS Y/N!", Blueberry bounded over to the vent, pushing the phone through the bars using his magic. She placed the phone into her backpack, still confused.

He clapped his hands, "NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSES ME, I'M OFF TO COOK THE GREATEST BREAKFAST EVER WITH Y/N", before dashing towards the kitchen. Papyrus and Edge also moved out of the room, heading towards the stairs.

"this'll be just great.", sarcasm dripping off Red's tone. "a perfect fuckin start to a morinin.'"

Stretch narrowed his eye lights, "watch it red, or would you rather our brothers went back to how they use to cook, back to edge and his old lasagna for every meal?"

The last Y/n saw of the room as she made her way to the kitchen was Red starting to sweat red again while Sans chuckled behind his newspaper.

~*~

Blueberry was literally jumping in joy, unable to stand in one place as he buzzed with raw enthusiasm. When he heard Y/n make her approach to the kitchen vent, he bounded over with literal stars in his eyes.

"Y/N!"

"Okay, I'm here. What do you want to cook?"

"I GET TO CHOOSE?!"

She laughed, "You sure do, unless you want me to make a recommendation?"

Blueberry paused in mid-bounce. "I-"

"hey bro."

Stretch wandered in, sitting down and slumping onto the smaller kitchen table.

"PAPPY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"came to watch bro. Wanted to see the master chef and his little apprentice in action" he lazily winked.

Blueberry puffed out his chest, "OF COURSE! WHEN THE MAGNIFICENT SA- AH BLUEBERRY IS COOKING, IT'S A SIGHT TO BEHOLD, MWEH HEH HEH!" He turned to look back at Y/n, "I WANT TO COOK A BREAKFAST BUFFET! WITH WAFFLES, PANCAKES, OMELETTES, EGGS, SAUSAGES, BACON, FRENCH TOAST AND ALL OF IT COVERED IN GLITTER TO TOP IT OFF!!"

She gulped, "er, Blue? That's a lot for one person to handle by themselves."

"BUT NOT FOR THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY! DON'T WORRY Y/N, I CAN HANDLE IT."

"No."

He stopped posing, his expression falling into confusion, "NO?"

She nodded, "You can't cook those together if you haven't done them separately." She raised her hands as his shoulders fell, "I can teach you how to make all of those things first, over time, then you can try the buffet thing."

"OKAY Y/N." Blueberry refused to look her in the eyes, still looking at the floor.

Y/n sighed, looking passed Blueberry to see Stretch staring at her, and she felt her soul still. He hadn't come even close to looking like that this morning. "H-hey Blueberry, how about we start with my favourite pancake recipe and we'll see what we can do about turning them into a rainbow stack?"

Blueberry's head snapped back up, his smile back, "RAINBOW STACK?! PANCAKES CAN COME IN DIFFERENT COLOURS?!"

"They sure can", she chuckled. "Ready to get going?"

Blueberry raised his fists into a fighting stance, "WHERE DO WE START?"

~*~

She was sitting on the kitchen bench right under the vent, surrounded by different containers, empty mixing bowls and an assortment of ingredients. The only thing that was missing (and would continue to be missing if she actually wanted to eat anything Blueberry ever cooked) was the arts and craft supply, glitter.

"BUT NAPSTABLOOK-"

"And I say, 'humans don't use glitter in their cooking'. Did you want to learn how to cook human style or not?"

Blueberry pouted but continued to stir the batter with the speed of a supped up blender.

"Blueberry! Slowly, remember?"

He rolled his eye lights but did slow down, making it seem like doing so was the most painful thing he had ever been through.

Stretch chuckled again. He'd been chuckling the entire times, often right after Y/n gave Blue instructions and he argued with her. Blue had even argued that he didn't argue, much to Y/n frustration and Stretch's great amusement.

"ARE YOU SURE IT'S THREE RED DROPS AND ONLY ONE BLUE?"

"That's what it says right here", Y/n pointed to the back of the food colouring packet, rolling her eyes now.

Stretch chuckles escalated into a snort. Y/n glared at him, seeing him reclining in his seat and laughing at her! Something about her ticked off expression must have been comedy gold for him, because suddenly he was outright laughing. She crossed her arms, unamused.

"BROTHER, REALLY?"

Y/n looked across to Blueberry, seeing him in the exact pose as she was, arms crossed and wearing an unamused expression. Stretch must have noticed too because his laughter only escalated.

"everything alright in here?"

Sans had stuck his head in the kitchen, looking between a chortling Stretch and the unamused cooks glowering at him.

Stretch, unable to talk, nodded, waving Sans off. With a shrug, he left.

Blueberry huffed and turned back to his pancakes, the last one still cooking. Next to him were the efforts of his labours, six piles of different coloured pancakes ready to go.

Y/n also turned away from Stretch, ignoring him and his chortles, "I think they turned out pretty well and hey-", she suddenly realised, "-next time you're at the store, you could buy blueberries and we could make Blueberry pancakes!"

She gestured at Blueberry, expecting him to become overjoyed that he could literally make something named after him. Instead, he smiled, shaking his head, "ACTUALLY, I PREFER CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND OTHER SWEET THINGS LIKE THAT." He gasped, "Y/N! YOU WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO KNOW ANY SWEETER RECIPES THAN THIS, WOULD YOU?!"

"Um-"

"hey bro? I wouldn't do that. you know how edge gets when he's forced to eat sweet meals."

Y/n looked in disbelief at Stretch, who had stopped laughing and was looking really nervous for some reason. Granted, she hadn't known the family long, but she really doubted that a concern of Edge's preferences was the true reason.

Blueberry looked over at Y/n, a reply ready to go, but he seemed to lose his track of thought as he stared at her.

"I REALLY MADE A BIG MESS, DIDN'T I?"

Y/n looked around her and the small town of dishes he had made, before eyeing him, "I think most of it ended up on your clothes actually."

To be honest, it was very hard to tell. Since his jog, he was still wearing his neon exercise outfit and the splash of random coloured pancake batter was barely visible against the colourful backdrop.

Blueberry looked down at his outfit, before looking back at her, "YOUR SKIN IS A DIFFERENT COLOUR THIS TIME THOUGH. NOW IT'S BLUE."

"different?"

Blueberry nodded, looking back at his brother while Y/n buried her face.

"THIS MORNING, SHE TURNED A BRIGHT RED AND WOULDN'T TELL ME WHY WHEN I ASKED."

Stretch's smirk became outright mischief, "bro, humans do that when they get embarrassed."

"OH, BUT WHAT WAS SHE EMBARRASSED ABOUT?"

"i don't know", he looked over to her glowing  red expression, "what were you embarrassed about y/n?"

She threw her hands up in the air, turning to climb up to the vent, "Okay! That it, I'm out!"

"*GASP*, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE SAID THIS MORNING!"

Stretch laughed, holding his sides while Y/n struggled to climb while hiding her face.

"Y/N! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? DON'T YOU WANT SOME PANCAKES?"

Y/n looked back from the vent to Blueberry holding the saucer plate with different coloured pancake pieces covered in maple syrup.

"That's something we can agree upon," she said as she reached for them.

Blueberry pulled the plate away, waggling his finger with a mischievous grin, "IN THE MONSTER HOUSE, WE EAT AT THE TABLE."

She stood back shocked before she crossed her arms, her mood soured, "Technically this is my house."

There was a moment where they stared at each other, before Blueberry pushed the dish towards Y/n.

"I'M SORRY Y/N. I WAS JUST TEASING", he mumbled.

"You could try asking you know."

He perked up, "Y/N, WILL YOU COME AND EAT WITH US PLEASE?"

"No."

"OH, OKAY." She expected him to look dejected. Instead he looked invigorated, like she was just one more opponent of his path to greatness, "BUT I WON'T STOP ASKING. YOU'LL SAY YES ONE DAY!"

With a nod, he turned to carry four of the plates out into the dining room, balancing them on his arms while walking very carefully.

Stretch followed his brother, carrying the reaming two with glowing orange magic.

As he exited the kitchen, he turned and winked at her, "see ya around y/n."

Y/n muttered angrily, looking down at her plate. Shrugging off her feelings, she dived in. Just as she grabbed a piece, she heard "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" coming from the dining room.

Chuckling, she abandoned her plate to crawl back through the ventilation system. No way she was going to miss the sight of Edge eating rainbow pancakes.

~*~

In truth, Edge and Red had equally hilarious reactions. Both had sullenly stared in disbelief at the colourful food stacked on their plates, both of them had glowered when the others had either chucked or enquired what was wrong.

She couldn’t help but laugh at their expressions either, which didn't go over well with Edge.

"THE PEST DARES TO LAUGH AT ME?!"

Red, however, simply summoned multiple red bones to block the vent's view, effectively ending her show. With no over reason to stay, she returned to her own coloured food, still quite chuffed with her new favourite mental image while she ate.

Looking out into the kitchen through the vent, she saw just how extensive the mess Blueberry had made was. It was in this way that she reminded about the existence of the food dye, the ultimate pranking tool!

Abandoning her breakfast for the second time, she quickly pushed through the vent bars, dropping to the floor. Looking around, hoping no one would just randomly walk in, she stuffed the whole kit into her bag, then returned to finally enjoy her colourful breakfast.

After a while, each skeleton brought in their dishes, placing them near the pile of multiple mixing bowls, just under her vent. As each one neared vent, they responded differently to see her sitting in the vent and finishing off her breakfast.

Edge dumped his dishes, non-too gently, before strolling out as quickly as he had come, with a distant door slam coming from the backyard. Likewise, Red dropped his plates from a greater height than necessary, but he had stood there staring at her as she ate. When she raised an eyebrow, he chuckled, flipped her the bird and left. Sans gave a lazy wink, a bad pun about dishes ("dishes was a very good meal, thanks kid") and walked out with a lazy jaunt, hands in his hoodie. Stretch had walked in leaning back but leant forward to look her over, like she was an exotic pet or something. When she flipped him off, he blew a puff of air at her, shocking her with the knowledge that skeletons could actually do that. She must have been making a funny face because he was still chuckling as he left. Papyrus and Blueberry brought in the last of the dishes. Both had waved at her, with Papyrus being the one who collected her plate while Blueberry started to wash the mountain of dirty dishes he had managed to create. Papyrus helped to dry, and between their energy and enthusiasm, they were much done sooner than she could have guessed.

"READY TO GET STARTED ON THE OUTSIDE?"

Blueberry took a look at the state of his clothing, "LET ME JUST QUICKLY CHANGE AND I'LL BE OUT THERE IN A SECOND."

He disappeared up the stairs.

Papyrus turned to look at her, "Y/N, DO YOU WANT TO COME OUTSIDE? I'VE HEARD FRESH AIR IS REALLY GOOD FOR HUMANS, AND I SHOULD KNOW, SEEING AS HOW I'M THE HUMAN EXPERT."

She smiled, "It's okay Papyrus, I've got things I need to do." She chuckled evilly.

Papyrus either didn't notice or didn't get the reference, "STAYING ACTIVE I SEE. GOOD FOR YOU! MAYBE YOU'LL BE A GOOD INFLUENCE ON OUR BROTHERS AFTER ALL. IF YOU NEED ME, I'LL BE OUTSIDE."

With a backwards wave, he ran to join Edge in the backyard.

Y/n quickly climbed back up to her room, digging through her things.

"Where is it? I wouldn't have thrown it- ah ha!"

_'Now, where is the nearest water faucet?'_

~*~

By the time she had safety glided to the top of the workshop, Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge were all standing outside, looking at the yard and loudly debating the best course of action.

"WE PROBABLY NEED TO START WITH THE LAWN! IT'S SO OVER-GROWN YOU CAN HARDLY SEE THE GROUND!"

"SHOULDN'T WE START WITH WHAT ACTIVITIES WE'RE GOING TO DO AND WHAT EQUIPMENT WE'RE GOING TO NEED?"

"IDIOT! HOW CAN WE DO THAT IF WE CAN'T SEE HOW MUCH SPACE WE HAVE?"

"HAS ANYONE ASKED Y/N IF THIS IS OKAY."

"ASK THAT PEST FOR PERMISSION? HAVE YOU NO RESPECT AS A MONSTER?!" Edge waved his arms in exasperation, "HOW THE HELL HAS NO ONE DUST-"

*Squirt*

"WHAT THE?" Edge touched the back of his skull, his gloves coming away green from the food colouring he could feel dripping down the back of his neck.

*Squirt*

Edge spun around, wisps of red curling around his clenched fists, his eye wildly searching for her hiding place.

"ARE YOU SPRAYING ME PEST?! YOU DARE-?!"

*Squirt*, right in the eye socket.

Edge's face exploded in colour, both from the green food colouring dripping and his red blazing eyes.

 "EAT DEATH!!!"

With Edge's raised hand, pointed red bones sprung out from the workshop's roof, narrowly missing her. With a start, she abandoned the context of secrecy, running towards the left of the building, where the tallest grass was.

Edge raised hand after hand, red bones springing left and right of Y/n, as she narrowly dodged death, pelting for the roof's ledge.

"DIE DIE DI- GET OFF ME, YOU IDIOTS!!"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Papyrus and Blueberry leap and grab Edge, wrestling with him. Unfortunately, it distracted her from dodging. With a cry, she felt sharp pain scrape her side before she threw herself off the roof.

"THAT'S IT!!"

Edge threw off Papyrus and Blueberry, running towards the garden shed and disappearing inside.

"Y/N!!" "Y/N!!'"

Papyrus and Blueberry came pelting over, fear in their eyes. They desperately searched the area, moving their hands through the grass.

"Y/N, WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! CAN'T YOU SEE-!"

*Squirt*

Blueberry pulled back, green food dye dripping from the side of his head.

Papyrus sat back, staring flabbergasted at a shocked Blueberry, "REALLY Y/N!? THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT! YOU'RE IN GRAVE-!"

*Squirt*

"Y/N!" "Y/N!"

She laughed, "Will you guys relax? He's not going to get me okay?" She heard the telltale sound of metal crashing and getting pushed around violently. "In fact, I think I'm about to help with the chores."

They looked confused, shocked and dripping green.

She sighed, "just hang around and you'll see what I mean. And hey, you might want to move."

With that, she dashed in another direction.

*WHIR-WHIRRRR-WHIRUMMM*

Edge came blazing out of the shed, pushing the old lawnmower and aiming it directly at where Papyrus and Blueberry were still kneeling. They quickly scrabbled out of the way as Edge drove the mower towards them, meticulously mowing the whole area, his eyes peeled for anything that moved in the grass and was coming out of the mower's sides. After a time and an impressively large area had been mowed, he seemed had calmed down as his pacing slowed down to a halt.

That's when Y/n popped up.

*Squirt*

Edge turned sharply, red blazing eyes. With a raised hand, he encircled the large area around Y/n's last squirt attack in pointed red bones.

"YOU WON'T ESCAPE ME VERMIN!!"

He moved the mower towards the enclosed circle, lowering it long enough to push it inside before raising it again. Once again, he mowed the entire area, paying close attention to the grass, to the mower and what was coming out of the sides of the mower. Not so much to the back of his heels, where Y/n clung to one of his knee-high boots. Once she managed to climb high enough, she simply waited for Edge to move close to the circle and hop over.

When Edge had managed to mow the entire enclosed circle and was picking through the area, looking for any hints that he had managed to get her, Y/n popped up somewhere else and squirted Edge once again. The cycle continued to repeat itself while Papyrus and Blueberry watched from the porch with cold drinks, discussing which dragon they would have and why.

Right now, Y/n was hiding in the garden and looking at a backyard effectively mowed down, with a mostly-green, seething skeleton. Edge was breathing heavily, his eyes wildly scanning the whole area.

"I KNOW YOU'RE STILL OUT THERE!"

He spun around, "COME OUT AND FACE ME!!"

When she didn't spring out and meet him ( _'Cause I'm not an idiot...okay, but I'm not suicidal.'_ ), Edge stormed towards the house, pushing past Papyrus and Blueberry and slamming the door shut behind him.

Papyrus and Blueberry shared a concerned look before standing up and moving to the middle of the yard.

"Y/N? Y/N ARE YOU OK?"

"HE'S GONE NOW, IT'S SAFE TO COME OUT."

Y/n fished placing the band-aid on her side, putting the scraps into her bag to pull another food colouring bottle out.

_'Not the red one though, need to save that one.'_

"I'm over here guys" she called, putting away the now empty bottle.

Papyrus and Blueberry came rushing over, "Y/N! YOU'RE OK-"

*Squirt*

"Y/N!!", Papyrus yelled, his eyes boggling in opposite directions.

She giggled, "I figured if I could get Edge to mow the lawn, I could get you guys to water the garden."

Papyrus stood off to the side; staring at the blue dye dripping onto his gloves, while Blueberry continued to walk into the center, looking for her.

"COME ONE Y/N. THERE ISN'T TIME FO-"

*Squirt*

"Hey Blue, guess who's blue now? Actually, I guess you're more of a Babyblue now."

Blueberry wiped his cheek, staring at the blue water on his blue gloves. He looked at Papyrus, who met his eyes, smiled then nodded.

They stood straight, posing with their capes flapping in the wind, "OKAY Y/N! PREPARE YOURSELF!"

"NYEH HEH HEH! YOU'VE JUST INCURRED THE WRATH OF THE TWO GREATEST GUARDS-"

*Squirt*

*Squirt*

They tore off, "I BAGS THE HOSE!"

"I'LL GET THE BUCKETS!"

~*~

Y/n was soaked, thoroughly waterlogged and loving it. It had been one hell of a water battle, but she liked to think she'd won. See, while Papyrus and Blueberry (now Babyblue, much to his displeasure) worked great as a team, they were playing in her territory. This wasn't the first time she had dodged someone using this garden to confuse and bamboozle her hunters. She knew this garden like the back of her hand, allowing her to pop up, squirt and disappear before either Papyrus or Blueberry could spot her.

Of course, what they lacked in knowledge, great aim and timing, they made up with raw water power and coordinated attacks. At first, Papyrus and Blueberry had only aimed when they were certain they knew where she was, but as they became less white and more blue skeletons, they changed tactics. Blueberry would use the hose to spray a wide area while Papyrus waited with a full bucket, listening for Y/n's shrieks as she got getting hit by Blue's wide water spray. That was when he would rush in and dump the bucket on the area her shrieks had come from, which was followed by gurgling sounds as she experienced a miniature waterfall hitting her. She wasn't proud to admit that they got her more than once doing that.

On the plus side however, turns out bones stained as easily as human skin. So while she was soaked, at least she wasn't dyed blue like they were.

Y/n looked over to Papyrus and Blueberry who were sprawled out on the grass next to her, drying in the sun. Both had dumped themselves where they lay after she called a timeout.

"WHY?"

"Because I'm currently sinking in the dirt! The ground is so soaked I'm in danger turning into a mole person."

They didn't get the reference, but they did agree to a temporary truce.

She looked back at the garden, well watered and glistening in the sunlight. It was just another chore she couldn't do by herself and one that Sara often didn't do. Now, perhaps, she wouldn't have to helplessly watch as the plants became dehydrated and she had to worry that any would die, leaving her in a position of being unable to replace them because she was small and everything-

"PAPYRUS, SHOULDN'T YOU BE STARTING LUNCH BY NOW?"

Y/n was brought out of her thought to see Papyrus spring up, grasping his head in his hands, "GOSH, YOU'RE RIGHT!" He spun around, looking down at her, "Y/N! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" he bent and offered his hand, "QUICKLY Y/N, I'LL CARRY YOU."

She put her hands up, shaking her head, "No thanks, I'll meet you there."

Papyrus withdrew his hand, looking confused and hurt. Blueberry piped up, "THEN HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET BACK?"

She shrugged, "eh, I'll walk back."

Blueberry gasped, "UNACCEPTABLE! YOU CAN'T WALK ALL THE WAY BACK SOAKING!" He brought his fists up in excitement, "WE SHOULD CARRY YOU!"

"No!"

Y/n looked away from his hurt expression, regretting her harshness, if not the answer. "It's fine Blue, really it is. I'm used to walking by now."

"BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO! WHAT IF EDGE COMES BACK? YOU'LL GET BACK SO MUCH QUICKER THAN WALKING AND PLUS, WE'LL KEEP YOU SAFE."

"YOU'LL BE FINE WITH US!"

"YOU CAN EVEN HIDE UNDER MY BANDANA! NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW YOU'RE THERE!"

They waited for her answer, but she didn't immediately have one. It made logical sense to have them carry her and her side was still a raw wound that she didn't want to drag through the grass if she didn't have to. However, she feared placing herself in that position. She had walked miles on foot after the court ruling because she couldn't trust anyone not to grab her and forcibly remove her from her home. What if they were lying too? They probably were lying.

But these guys had been nothing but honest with her, going as far as to tackle Edge for her. She would know, wouldn't she, if these guys couldn't be trusted? She didn't have that same gut feeling she had with Sara and many nameless humans who had promised to 'help' her.

However, it's only been two days since she met them, that couldn't possibly be enough time to trust them. What if they were just waiting, playing nice to lure her out so that they could get her house? She had just spent the past moments spraying them blue. She wouldn't trust her, why would they? The only answer was that this was them about to get revenge, probably grab her and dump her in a paint can or something.

"Y/N, TRUST US. PLEASE."

_'The question is; do I trust them?'_

She found herself saying, "Yes."

Before Papyrus or Blueberry had a chance to express their joy, she raised her hand, "But there are a few, very strict conditions and you both must swear to keep every one of them."

They nodded, serious.

She held up a finger, "Firstly, no one can know where I am. Not your brothers, not the edgy duo."

They nodded.

She held up a second finger, "This is a onetime thing only. You're taking me to the kitchen vent once."

Papyrus nodded.  Blueberry looked like he wanted to argue, till he saw the look she was giving him, then he quickly nodded too.

She held up a third finger, "And you must follow all of my instructions. If I say run, you run away. Understand?"

"YES""YES"

She sighed, "Okay then." Looking between the two, she considered her options. "I think it makes more sense for Papyrus to carry me, as we have cooking lesson soon." _'And it'll also give me a higher advantage point, always a plus.'_

"AWWW! NO FAIR!" Blueberry looked away, "IT'S BECAUSE I'M SHORT, ISN'T?"

Honestly, it was a part of it, and she thought about lying to him. In this case, however, she didn't have to, "Blue, if it was you're cooking lesson, you'd be carrying me."

He snapped his attention to Papyrus, "PAPYRUS, CAN WE SWITCH-?"

"SORRY BLUE, IT'S MY TURN."His tone was polite, but there was defiantly a hint of victory to that smile.

While Blueberry grumbled something about rigged systems against him, Papyrus knelt before Y/n, offering an outstretched hand.

Y/n looked at the hand for a while before slowly moving towards it. Gently, she placed a hand on his thumb, her head shooting up to engage his reaction. He merely smiled back. With a sigh, she stepped onto his hand, nearly tripping over her wobbly legs and high strung nerves. Every instinct was telling her this was stupid, that she was about to be captured and taken-

"Y/N."

She flinched, looking up in fear. Papyrus smile grew softer, understanding and concern in his eyes.

"You're ok Y/n. You're safe."

If she wasn't close to a panic attack, Papyrus talking in a normal voice probably would have shocked her stunned. As it was, it gave her limbs enough strength to bring her more securely on his hand.

Papyrus looked down at her reassuringly, slowly rising to his feet. Once he was standing, he brought his hand to his shoulder. Y/n quickly jumped off, making her way as quickly to his scarf as fast as she could. Once she was there, she dived in and arranged the folds in such a way so she could still see out. The moment she was covered, she felt instantly better.

Papyrus giggled, his shoulder moving under Y/n touch, "SHE TICKLES!"

Blueberry looked away from Papyrus, huffing, "AWW, YOU'RE SO LUCKY." He turned to look pointedly at Y/n, "DON'T WORRY Y/N, I'LL PROTECT YOU."

He moved to the front, his walking taking on a marching quality.

When they reached the house, Blueberry ran ahead checked every room before reporting back. "NO ONE'S ON THE GROUND FLOOR. I COULD HEAR EDGE IS IN THE SHOWER AND OUR BROTHERS ARE DOWNSTAIRS WORKING."

"WE PROBABLY NEEDED TO MAKE SURE. GO CHECK THE BATHROOM AND, IF YOU COULD, BRING BACK A SMALL TOWEL FOR Y/N."

Blueberry nodded, "YOU CAN COUNT ON ME", before running off to the bathrooms.

Papyrus cautiously walked inside, his head whipping from side to side as he walked over to the kitchen. "Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY IN-?"

The door leading to the basement opened up and Stretch came walking out, rolling a lollipop between his teeth. He paused when he saw Papyrus, frozen in mid-stride, and raised a non-existent eyebrow at his blue-splashed outfit and bones.

"why so blue?"

"I'M NOT BLUE."

Y/n gave herself a mental facepalm.

Stretch stared at Papyrus, who stood there ram-rod stiff, his eye darting wildly over the place. "papyrus, you're dyed blue. what happened?"

Papyrus continued to stand there, his eyes continually returning to the windows, like he was seriously thinking about jumping out of them or something.

"Say something" she urgently whispered to Papyrus.

"Y/N SPRAYED US WITH A WATER GUN THAT WAS FILLED WITH BLUE DYE."

"what?" "What?!"

Papyrus rushed ahead, "WE WERE HAVING A WATER FIGHT WITH Y/N AFTER SHE WAS HAD ONE WITH EDGE (WHICH WAS MORE OF A WAR THAN A FIGHT)."

There was a long stretch of silence as Papyrus and Stretch stared at each other, while Y/n was seriously rethinking some life decisions.

Stretch broke out in a smile, chuckling softly, "where is she now?"

Papyrus definitely took a step towards the back windows just then.

Stretch shrugged, "never mind, why don't you go for a shower?"

"PAPYRUS!" Blueberry rushed from the bathroom direction, "EDGE IS DEFIANTLY IN THE SHOWER AND I'VE GOT THAT TOWEL FOR-." He stopped dead when he saw Stretch, one hand still raised in the air holding a face cloth.

"what's the facecloth for babyblue?"

Blueberry immediately started to twist the cloth with his hands, looking everywhere but his brother, "IT'S, UM, IT'S FOR, UM...."

"Lie" Y/n whispered, clarifying this time.

"IT'S FOR ME!", Papyrus blurted out.

Blueberry and Stretch turned to face Papyrus, who immediately started to sweat.

"I, ER, NEED IT. TO, UM...TOOOOWIPE OFF ALL THIS BLUE! YES THAT'S IT!"

Y/n gave herself another mental facepalm.

Stretch chuckled, "then why did you ask for a facecloth? why not a bigger towel?"

"BECAUSE I ONLY NEED IT TILL I GET INTO THE SHOWER."

"isn't edge in there?"

"SO HE IS...WHICH IS, UM.. AH! WHICH IS WHY I ASKED FOR THIS FACECLOTH!"

"but it doesn't explain why you didn't ask for a proper towel."

There was a pause.

"THIS IS ALL I NEED?"

*Mental facepalm*

Stretch and Blueberry continued to stare, with Blueberry still looking flabbergasted and Stretch with a shit-eating grin.

Papyrus suddenly clapped his hands together, "WELL, I BEST BE OFF FOR MY COOKING LESSON! BYE EVERYBODY!"

Blueberry started, snapping out of whatever had kept him silent during this train wreck, "YES! I ALSO NEED TO GO FOR A BATH...WHICH IS OCCUPIED SO I WILL JUST BE STANDING THERE DOING NOTHING FOR A REALLY LONG, BORING TIME."

"guys."

Papyrus and Blueberry froze one step towards their destinations.

"before you go cook lunch and get washed up, i'd like a photo of you together."

"WHY?" "WHY?"

Stretch smiled, "i just wanted to take a commemorative photo of your first water fight here."

Papyrus and Blueberry very slowly turned to look at each other.

"SURE... I CAN SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. CAN YOU BLUEBERRY?"

"....OF COURSE NOT PAPYRUS. THAT IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL REQUEST THAT WOULD BE REALLY WEIRD TO REFUSE."

Y/n was slowing giving herself a mental headache with all the mental facepalms she was doing. These guys couldn't act to save their lives! How did she ever believe they were capable of deception?!

Stretch chuckled, pulling out his phone. As Papyrus and Blueberry moved awkwardly together, Y/n was thinking that, at this point, Stretch almost certainly knew all about her.

"ready? on the count of 3. 1, 2-"

_'Screw it.'_

"-3."

She popped out while sticking out her tongue, just as the flash went off. As quick as she was, she was quicker diving back under Papyrus's scarf.

Stretch looked down at his phone briefly, before he burst out laughing.

"pfft,  perfect!"

"OKAY! GREAT! ....BYE!"

Papyrus fled to the kitchen, leaving behind a confused Blueberry and a chuckling Stretch leaning heavily against the wall.

~*~

Moments later, Papyrus was bent over and breathing heavily in the kitchen.

Y/n patted his shoulder, "Papyrus?"

He stood up abruptly, nearly topping her, "I THINK THAT WENT WELL! I DON'T THINK STRETCH SUSPECTS A THING (WHY WOULD HE, I AM THE MASTER OF DECEPTION AFTER ALL)."

Papyrus handed her the face cloth as he walked over to the vent. She wrapped it around her body as Papyrus offered his hand. Once she was standing on it, he levelled it so she could walk right in the vent. Safety inside, she watched Papyrus turn to gather supplies for lunch.

"Actually Papyrus?"

Papyrus turned back around, curious.

She hesitated. What she wanted to say was thank you. Not just for the towel, but for earlier, when he and Blueberry had tried to stop Edge. For the water fight and helping her get back.

For keeping their promise.

 "Can I- do you want...*Cough*." She took a deep breath and tried again, "Would you like me closer to the stove? You know, so I can help you with your technique?"

Papyrus took a long gasp of breath, his eye lights brighten and getting the large the longer he did so "THAT WOULD BE PERFECT!"

She smiled brightly, hopping on Papyrus's hand again as he brought her closer to his cooking bench, "Okay then! Let's see what you remember from yesterday."

~*~

Short answer: not much.

Long answer: how can you not remember any of this! We literally did this just 24 hours ago. Oh no, not again!

At least Papyrus was enthusiastic (even more than yesterday, if such a thing was possible), which continued to make it a fun experience, and she had to be fair; while there was plenty he didn't learn from yesterday, it was still an improvement. From her closer position, she got to share the experience of being covered in pasta sauce, but between the rip on the side of her shirt, her blue and green hands and her still drying clothes, she was past the point of caring. If anything, climbing up the ventilation would be quite interesting, but it continued to be interesting ever since she started eating regular hot meals with her hands.

Right now, she was sitting on the bench, finishing the last of her pasta and keeping a very watchful eye on Edge, who was helping Papyrus dry dishes without looking away from her once. As far as she knew, Blueberry was currently having a shower and their brothers were back working on the 'lab' or whatever that was slang for.

Edge was wearing the sort of regular clothes she had expected to see him in and wearing that regular sharp glare he seemed to reserve specially for her. Now, however, it seemed to have hardened into something more absolute, less death threat and more death promise.

At least he wasn't green anymore.

She didn't say that out loud.

"I THINK WE SHOULD GET STARTED ON MAKING THAT SHOPPING LIST OF SUPPLIES WE'LL NEED FOR TOMORROW."

Edge didn't reply.

"OF COURSE, WE'LL NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WE WANT IN THE BACKYARD, NOW THAT IT'S BEEN MOWED. THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT BY THE WAY EDGE."

Edge's eyes narrowed.

"AND, OF COURSE, WE'LL NEED TO MAKE SURE IT'S ALL APPROVED BY Y/N!"

Edge's eye twitched.

Y/n coughed, "Papyrus, I'm done with the meal". She offered the plate to him, who happily took it from her.

"HOW WAS IT?"

She smiled up at his eager expression, giving him a big thumb up, "Good! You're definitely improving."

*CRACK*

Y/n and Papyrus turned to see Edge holding two halves of a plate. He looked down at the broken plate for a moment, before dumping it in the bin.

"FINISHED", then he left, heading for the dining room.

Y/n and Papyrus looked at each other, shrugging.

Once Papyrus had washed and dried her plate, he took Y/n with him into the dining room, lifting her to vent. After she slided in and looked back to thank him, she saw the look Edge was giving them from his crossed-armed sitting position at the dining room table. He looked like he was watching two slugs make out on top of his favourite, one-of-a-kind toothbrush.

Papyrus must have seen her expression because as he turned to look at Edge, his smile fell. "IS EVERYTHING OKAY EDGE?

"YES....EVERYTHING IS ABSOLUTELY FINE" Edge said through clenched fangs.

Papyrus nodded, all smiles again, "GOOD!" He gestured at the paper and pencils of the dining table, "HAVE YOU DRAWN A DIAGRAM OF THE BACKYARD YET EDGE?"

Edge rolled his eye lights, "YOU THINK I WOULD JUST SIT HERE DOING NOTHING, WAITING FOR YOU AND YOUR PET TO ARRIVE?"

"I'm not a pet!"

Edge smirked while Papyrus shock off the comment, "OF COURSE NOT EDGE. GOOD JOB!"

Edge ground his teeth.

"OKAY, SO WHAT ARE SOME THINGS WE WANT TO- WAIT, WHERE'S BLUEBERRY?"

"WHAT AM I? HIS BABYSITTER?"

Papyrus stood to leave the room, "I'LL JUST GO AND FIND HIM THEN."

Edge slammed his fist on the desk, "HE'S IN THE SHOWER OKAY?! CAN WE JUST GET THIS OVER WITH!?"

Papyrus sat back down, bring the backyard diagram closer to him, "ALRIGHT THEN. SO, WHAT DO WE WANT TO HAVE?"

Between them, they nominated pull-up bars, a duelling area (Edge insisted it would be called a fighting area), weight lifts area, a climbing wall and a garage to house all their vehicles. Y/n had to knock back the weights idea as, she pointed out, the equipment wouldn't last long exposed to the elements (it took her awhile to explain how the weather rotted things when left out in it). She suggested they simply use heavy things, like tyres or logs, and save the space they would have needed to use to build some sort of shed for the equipment for a different activity instead.

In the end, the pull-bars, duelling area and a climbing wall would be placed in the backyard (spaced out and far away from the garden, the old apple tree, pond and workshop) while an area at the front would be cleared to build the garage.

"WE'LL NEED TO GET SOME TOOLS AND SUPPLIES TO BUILD ALL THIS STUFF. THAT WILL TAKE TIME TO GET."

"You guys can build all this stuff?"

Edge scoffed, looking mildly offended. "OF COURSE WE CAN. IN THE UNDERGROUND, ALL THE TRAPS AND OUR WORKSTATIONS WERE BUILD BY OUR OWN HANDS."

"Oh" she was surprised, but it did make sense. If you didn't have access to stuff, you learned to either make it yourself or do without. Something she could relate to. "Well, you don't need to waste money on tools. You're more than welcome to borrow tools in the workshop."

Blueberry came over then, white again and wearing clean clothes. "BATHROOM'S EMPTY PAPYRUS."

"THANKS BLUEBERRY! I'LL USE IT AFTER WE'VE DONE THIS."

Blueberry nodded, moving to take a seat, "WHAT HAVE WE DECIDED?"

Edge waved a hand in the direction of the labelled diagram, "A BARE BASIC EXERCISE SET UP. IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN OBSTACLE COURSE."

"IT DOES HAVE A DUELLING AREA THOUGH."

Blueberry was looking over the diagram, nodding thoughtfully, "IS THAT BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SPACE AND YOU CAN EASILY MAKE AN OBSTACLE COURSE BY CHANGING THE ORDER OF ACTIVITIES?" he looked up.

The other two nodded.

Blueberry looked back at the diagram, before he nodded once and pushed it away from him, "WELL, I THINK IT'S A GOOD PLAN. IT'LL NEED A FEW THINGS THOUGH. PROBABLY HAVE TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY SHOPPING AROUND FOR THEM." He looked up eagerly, "Y/N, DO YOU WANT TO COME ALONG TOMORROW?"

She didn't need to think about her answer, "No thanks."

"hey." Red came walking over, a piece of paper held loosely in his hand, "you guys heading out tomorrow?"

"YOU'RE NOT INVITED", Edge snapped.

Red nodded, not looking upset, "we've got a few things we need too.", holding up the paper.

Before Edge could refuse (because it was obvious that was going to be his next words) Blueberry took the paper from him. "OF COURSE!"

Edge scowled.

Papyrus asked, "ARE YOU NEARLY DONE?"

He shrugged, "basically. we'll probably take an easy day tomorrow."

"EVERYDAY OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE IS AN 'EASY DAY'" Edge growled.

Red shrank a little, rubbing the back of his head.

Blueberry pipped up, "YOU KNOW THAT WE WON'T BE HERE TO COOK TOMORROW SO YOU'LL HAVE TO LEFTOVERS TOMORROW?"

Red nodded, looking bored.

"OH AND LOOK AFTER Y/N."

Red paused in mid-nod, "y/n isn't going with you?"

Papyrus nodded, missing the look Red was aiming at her air vent, "WE'VE ASKED HER AND SHE SAYS SHE DOESN'T WANT TO."

Blueberry turned to Red, waggling a finger in his face, "THAT MEANS YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE SHE GETS HER MEALS. PROPER MEALS, AND THAT THEY'RE ON TIME."

Red knocked aside Blueberry's finger, rolling his eye lights, "yea yea", before aiming a smirk at her.

Y/n didn't like Blue's implications that she was some sort of pet that needed to be looked after, but her main concern was the look Red was giving her.

"THAT MEANS NO KILLING IT RED."

Red looked taken aback (Y/n certainly did a double take at that statement), but then he smirked and nodded, "of course not boss. wouldn't dream of it."

Edge glowered, "GOOD. SEE TO IT THAT YOU REMEMBER THAT." He aimed a point look at Red, who shrank into his hoodie, "I WOULD BE VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH YOU IF I CAME BACK AND IT HAD DIED UNDER YOUR PITIFUL CARE."

"of-of course not boss."

Edge huffed, pushing himself up from the table, "ARE WE DONE YET? I'VE GOT BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN TO WASTE IT WITH YOU MOUTH BREATHERS."

When no one objected, he turned to leave, but paused to aiming a look at Y/n, who self concisely shrank back, "I'LL BE SEEING YOU FOR THE COOKING LESSONS, Y/N."

It wasn't a question, but she treated like it was one, "Of course Edge. Wouldn't miss it."

With a scoff, he left, making Y/n feel like that statement was a challenge to her; face me, if you dare too. Well, she wasn't one to back from a challenge or impossible odds (pretty much summing up her situation living here).

"If that's all guys, I'm going to go get cleaned up too."

"OH, Y/N, IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE BATHROOM FIRST, YOU'RE MORE THAN WELCOME TO IT!"

Red had a creepy look come over him, but she ignored him in favour of replying to the offer.

"That's nice of you Papyrus, but I have my own bathroom."

"REALLY!? WHERE?"

She smiled at Blueberry's innocent question then left, climbing back to her room.

When she reached her room, she noticed her phone had an alert or something. Confused, she approached and activated the screen.

 **THE GREAT PAPYRUS:** Y/N! IT'S ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, YOU'RE BEST ROOMMATE!! I'M WAITING FOR BREAKFAST WITH EDGE (HE'S NOT TALKING TO ME BUT IT'S STILL NICE HE'S HERE). BLUEBERRY WAS SO EXCITED TO COOK WITH YOU, SO I'M TRYING REALLY HARD TO STAY HERE. BUT IT'S REALLY HARD!

 **#MISSED CALL** from **UNKNOWN CALLER** @ 10:23AM#

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** HI Y/N! IT'S THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY TEXTING YOU FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!! I CAN HEAR YOU AND PAPYRUS TALKING DOWN THE HALL, BUT I'M STUCK HERE WAITING FOR EDGE TO FINISH WITH HIS SHOWER. DID YOU KNOW HE SINGS IN THE SHOWER?!

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** THE BATHTUB IS GREEN! AND CHECK OUT EDGE'S TOWEL!!

There was an attached photo of a blue Blueberry's selfie looking shocked while pointing to the bathtub with a towel near it, both with very clear indications of green dye leaving a permanent mark.

She had completely forgotten that they had her phone number! She still didn't know why they bothered, let alone when they had a chance to text her or why she was happy about it. She couldn't guess who the unknown caller might be, but she suspected it might be a telemarketer or maybe someone who knew her once. While the world may have forgotten her existences and her very name, the phone still existed and people who had her number with a no name.

She responded to Papyrus and Blueberry texts, changed their names to Burnt Passion and Babyblue with a chuckle, while ignoring the missed call. There was no point in bringing up old ghosts.

_'Now, where are my spare clothes?'_

~*~

Later on and after she had changed clothes, Y/n made her way to the kitchen for Edge's cooking lesson. When she arrived, she was surprised to find the kitchen empty, considering the grief he had given her when she was late yesterday.

She called out, "Edge? You he-?"

The vent cover was suddenly pulled off by a pointed red glove, immediately followed by the second glove grabbing and ripping her from the safety of the vent. She briefly saw the livid face of Edge before she was tossed to the kitchen bench, her head colliding with the wall. Dazed, she quickly raised herself to make a break for it but was stopped by a sharp red bone at her throat.

She glared up at Edge, who glared back, holding the other end of the bone.

"Do it then."

Edge was silent for a long time, turning his head this way and that, like he was considering where to make the first cut.

"I FOUND BLOOD ON MY BOOTS."

She stared blankly at him, waiting for him to make his point. When he nodded to her side, she looked down to see that the wound had opened up and she was bleeding through the new shirt. She looked back at Edge, expression unchanged. His gaze narrowed.

"YOU ALSO GOT BURNED YESTERDAY, YET YOU DIDN'T MAKE ANY NOISES, DIDN'T ASK FOR HELP FROM THOSE TWO IDIOTS YOU'VE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO CHARM."

"Were you hoping to hear me cry? Is that what you want, to hear me beg for my life?"

Edge pressed the bone closer to her throat and she was sure she could feel blood seeping down her neck. She narrowed her gaze, remaining silent. If she was about to die, she wouldn't die begging for her life, even as her body quivered slightly.

"I HAVEN'T HIDDEN MY INTENTIONS TO HARM YOU. STILL, YOU CAME HERE TONIGHT, AT THE RISK OF YOUR LIFE, FOR A COOKING LESSON?! WHY?"

She looked off to the side, avoiding his stare.

"You think I don't know that you, or anyone else could kill me easily?" she whispered.

She looked up, defiant "I'm not a threat, I'm a nuisance, a pest and that's all I can ever be in this form! I can't stop anyone from taking this place or getting rid of me if they really wanted to." She scoffed, "you're brother said it best, 'just fumigate this place with bug spray'. It's that easy."

She looked directly into Edge's eyes, who looked taken aback, "but I won't go without a fight. You want to take my home? Kill me? Fine, but I didn't make it easy, I didn't give up and I didn't give you the satisfaction of hearing me beg for my life!"

They stared at each other for a long time, Edge using the bone under her chin to force her to look him in the eyes while he searched for something in her hard glare.

After a while, he withdrew the bone.

Y/n's legs gave away under her and she slid down the wall. In disbelief, she stared blankly at Edge, who lowered his head till he was on her eye level.

"YOU, ARE A WORTHY OPPONENT FOR THE TERRIBLE EDGE. ONE WHO DOESN'T BACK DOWN OR MAKE SQUEALING NOISES, BEGGING FOR YOUR MISERABLE LIFE." He smirked, "THAT WILL MAKE BENDING YOU TO MY WILL ALL THE MORE SATISFYING."

He stood back and posed, "WHEN I CAPTURE YOU, WHEN YOU FALL FOR ONE OF MY INGENIOUS TRAPS, YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET WHAT YOU DID TODAY." He looked back at her, smirking, "...BRIEFLY."

She continued to stare, shocked that she somehow managed to talk her way out of murder.

Edge suddenly clapped his hands, starling her, drawing her attention back to him. He smirked, "SO, ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE ME MY COOKING LESSON, OR HAS ALL YOUR BRAVERY GONE WITH YOUR SPEECH?"

She laughed in disbelief, "you unbelievable massive jackwagon." She stood up slowly, her legs still wobble, "I'm ready when you are....apprentice."

Edge rolled his eye lights, "I'VE ALREADY MASTERED ONE OF YOUR PITIFUL 'LESSONS'." He turned to the fridge, "LET'S JUST GET THIS OVER WITH ALREADY."

After Y/n watched Edge make dinner, during which he made many of the same mistakes he did yesterday and then proceeded to deny and argue that he made any mistakes at all, after dinner had been served and she had been served a piece by a joyful Blueberry, and after she had cleaned up and the skeleton family headed off for bed, Y/n found herself in her own bed later on when two, very big realisations occurred to her:

  1. Edge literally had her in the palm of his hand and had still let her go.
  2. It would be many months before she could look him in the eye and not see the tiniest bit of green on his eye socket bones.



 

Next chapter is called: Bonedries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cr*p! I thought no one would like my stories! Every time I read a comment, I'm smiling and my eyes get moist because, um, the, er, the sun's in my eye! (*Sob!*).  
> I'm typing in the next chapters right now! The pranking bros are about to go against the pranking bitty. Who will win? You decide! 
> 
> I feel nothing but love right now, thanks guys. You have no idea how much I'm feeding off this.


	4. Bonedries

Y/n held her breath, her red-stained hands shaking slightly from exhaustion, tension and concentration. It was vital that she get this just right, but she had already been up for the past 2 hours and her arms were getting tired. Desperate, she looked over at the alarm clock on the nearby nightstand.

7:56 am, she didn't have much time left.

She felt another deep rumble from under her feet as the ground beneath her moved, her legs and arms wobbling as she struggled to maintain her balance. With a start, she looked at Red's sleeping face, his closed eyelids that continued to twitch as his eye lights scanned over whatever he was dreaming about. She sighed, relief washing over her. It would be a shame to have to leave without putting on the final touches.

With a final stroke, she pulled back the red lipstick, admiring her hard work. What she wouldn't give to be able to take a photo, but, alas, there was no way of doing that without the risk of waking him up.

Carefully tucking the lipstick under her arm, Y/n walked slowly back the way she had come, over Red's chest to slide down his bed covers. Out of the three brothers she had visited, Red probably slept the wildest, his bed sheets twisted around his body that made climbing up to his face a challenge.

Just as she made her way off the bed and was hanging from the sheets, the alarm clock sounded. There was a flurry of movement from Red, while she desperately clung to a sheet the thrashed with his movements before there was silence and he settled back to sleep.

Breathing heavily, Y/n careful continued to slide down the sheet. Normally, she would have just dropped, but with Red just recently awake, there was a good chance he'd hear her land.

Once her feet were safely on the ground and the lipstick had been properly put away, she made for the vent. She had barely made it halfway there, however, when there came a knock at Red's door, followed by Stretch's sleep strained voice, "come on red, they'll be back soon. met ya downstairs."

Red cursed and flung off his bed sheet to the floor, inevitably trapping Y/n beneath them. Crouching low and with no way to see beyond a few inches in front of her nose, she had to rely on hearing where Red was and luck.

Red's first footstep skimmed her left side, crushing her left hand. As her eyes watered up, she bitterly realised that she should have known better than to trust luck. Once Red stood up and moved elsewhere in his room, she pulled her crushed hand and fingers to her chest, trying to keep from swearing.

For whatever reason, Red reached his door, only to curse and come back, narrowly missing her for a second, third and fourth time. To Y/n, it felt like Red was tap dancing above her and she grew more panicked with every near miss.

Abandoning the need for secrecy, she began to fight and push the sheet, trying desperately to find an edge.

"what the hell..?"

The sheets were suddenly ripped off and cast to the side, exposing her to Red's confused stare.

Before he had a chance to do or say anything, she bolted for the vent, sliding past the bars and ran away. Whatever Red had been about to do or say could stay in that room; she wasn't coming back to find out what it was.

~*~

Y/n made her way to the dining room, guessing that's where Sans and Stretch would be, eager to see her latest artworks. Sure enough, Sans was reading behind another newspaper and Stretch was slumped over on the table, his head buried in his arms.

"anyone know why y/n was up in my room?"

Red soon entered the dining room, looking intently at her vent.

Stretch lifted his head a few inches and shrugged, "maybe she- pfffft! never mind, i figured it out."

Red turned his glare from the vent to Stretch who was visibly laughing at him. Whatever comment he had been about to make dies as he stares at Stretch.

"why are you wearin clown make-up?"

Stretch stop laughing to feel his own face, his phalanges coming away stained with red lipstick. He chuckled again while looking at Sans's, who had put down his newspaper by then.

"think i got the best of it. looks like y/n's been busy."

Red looked between Sans's hairy mono-brow and missing teeth, to Stretch and his red nose, lips and cheeks, before making his way over to the table.

"what she done to my face?" he quietly growled, sitting down.

Sans and Stretch snickered, looking away from Red's death glare.

Sans collected himself first, "hey there good looking, nice ruby lips. red is defiantly you're colour."

"yea, and you're eyelashes really bring out your eyes."

Red cursed, rubbing his hands over his skull. Unfortunately (for him, not anyone else's enjoyment through), all he managed to do was spread and smear the effect, making it look like he had applied the makeup with his left hand. Sans's and Stretch's snickers quickly turned into full-blown fits of laughter as Y/n joined them. Red gripped the table, fuming as an eye light began to change into red flames. It's in this state that Papyrus, Edge and Blueberry return from their morning jog, to see their three brothers in various forms of graffiti and laughter.

"SANS, WHAT HAPPENED!?"

Papyrus came rushing over, grabbing Sans and lifting him in the air for a hug.

"ARE YOU OKAY?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR TEETH?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" He dropped Sans to the floor as he fell to his knees, "I'VE BEEN A BAD BROTHER! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE TO PROTECT YOU!!"

Sans picked himself off the floor and walked over to place a hand on Papyrus's back, "bro i'm okay. it's just lipstick... i think."

"LIPSTICK?" Papyrus pushed himself off the ground, glaring at Sans, "WHY WOULD YOU PUT LIPSTICK ON YOUR FACE?! AND SUCH A POOR JOB OF IT TOO!"

Sans smile grew, posing with his head as he turned it from side to side, "how do i look? did y/n do a good job?"

"NO! YOU LOOK LIKE AN UNWASHED CAVE MAN WITH BAD TEETH!" Papyrus turned to look at Y/n, who was happily watching the free show, "YOU DECLINED OUR INVENTION FOR A JOG TO GIVE OUR BROTHERS A MAKE-OVER?"

Blueberry huffed, "AT LEAST YOUR BROTHER DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A CLOWN."

Stretch grinned, "i thought it was a nice _jester_ , but now i feel funny."

Blueberry threw his arms up into the air, "SEE?! THERE'LL BE NO STOPPING THE CLOWN PUNS NOW!"

"looks like someone's funny bone is broken."

"ARRGGGH!"

While Blueberry walked out of the room exasperated, with Stretch following him out ("i _jest_ , of course, that was too _trapezey_ " "OH MY GOD, STOP!"), Edge walked over to Red, smirking down at his still fuming form.

"YOU LOOK LIKE THE HOOKER NO ONE WANTED."

Red snarled, "i didn't fuckin do this to myself!"

"WATCH YOUR TONE WHELP!"

Red settled back into his chair, the table creaking beneath his clenched fists.

Sans chuckled.

Red slammed his hands onto the table, pointing a threatening finger in his direction, "keep laughin sans and i'll knock your teeth out for real!"

Papyrus stuck his hands out in alarm, "WHOA NOW! EVERYBODY NEEDS TO CALM DOWN."

"SINCE WHEN DO WE LISTEN TO YOU?!"

"I WASN'T-"

"Stop it!" All the skeleton eye lights in the room focused on Y/n, who was pressing herself against the vent's bars. "You're supposed to be fighting me, not each other!" She snapped.

The impulse to stop them fighting happened before she realised what she was doing. At first, it had been funny, watching the brothers annoy each other (her favourite part was Blue leaving with Stretch following him out), but then it suddenly wasn't funny. She had hated seeing them arguing like that.

_'I did? Huh, when did that happen?'_

Still somewhat confused by her impulse, she looked around the room to see Edge and Papyrus frozen in mid-argument while Red settled back into his chair, looking up at her in disbelieving anger. Sans narrowed his eyes at her, "does seeing us fight make you upset?" he asked bluntly.

She simply stared back, completely at a loss for words. _'What the hell is even my answer to that?'_

Luckily, she was saved from answering when Blueberry came back in, Stretch still trailing after him, "ENOUGH PAPYRUS! IT ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!"

There was a gasp around the room as every single eye light, again, focused on Y/n, who was even more confused now. She looked over at Papyrus across the room from Blueberry, "What did Papyrus do?"

Papyrus and Blueberry exchanged a look like they had just broken mum's favourite vase and they could hear her coming.

Stretch shrugged, placing a hand on Blueberry's head, "nothing kid. he just said the wrong name is all."

"UM, YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!" Blueberry exclaimed while Papyrus eagerly nodded in the background.

She could understand how, especial during high emotions, one could blurt out the wrong name...and Stretch and Papyrus did sort of look similar. Yet, why did Papyrus and Blueberry look so awkward? Almost like they had yesterday, when-

"y/n?"

She was startled out of her thought process as Stretch approached her vent, tapping the make-up  around his nose hole "guess who nose what's happening today?"

She smiled, shrugging, "who nose."

"NO Y/N! DON'T FALL FOR HIS SUB-PAR CHARM AND BAD WIT!"

"Sorry Blue, that's snot what I meant to do."

Papyrus and Blueberry groaned while Edge frowned with a huff. She laughed at their expressions as relief swept through her body that the fight seemed to be quickly forgotten. Sans, Stretch and Red appeared to relax as well, even if she could tell they were still a little tense over the shouting match they just had.

Stretch leaned back, tossing his head in Blueberry's direction, "my bro, papyrus and edge are going to town to buy all the things we need to finish some projects around the house."

He looked over his shoulder, "what do you guys think? it'll probably take all day?"

"AT LEAST ASHTRAY." Edge turned to fling an arm in Blueberry's direction. "THAT IS, IF SOMEONE AGREES TO FOLLOW OUR PLAN AND DOESN'T SLOW US DOWN!"

Blueberry glared at Edge, before he reluctantly looked at Y/n, "UM, SEE, WHAT HE MEANS IS, UM-" He shut his eyes and shouted, "-WE WON'T BE ABLE TO HAVE OUR COOKING LESSONS TODAY!"

"Oh. Blueberry?"

He refused to open his eyes.

"Blue, look at me."

He did so, slowly and hesitantly, to see Y/n smiling back at him, "It's okay, there's always tomorrow, yea?" She looked around the room and noticed the Papyrus and Edge looked equally uncomfortable (each in their own way), "I'm assuming you guys need enough time to head out and get back? Then don't worry about it and we'll get back to our lessons when you have time for them." She laughed, "You don't have to cook with me if you don't want to, I'm only there to stop any more house fires."

"WE THOUGHT YOU'D STOP GIVING OUR LESSONS IF WE MISSED ONE" Papyrus mumbled.

"Did I ever say that I would?"

"NO?"

"Then don't assume things without asking."

That seemed to relax them, even if they were still oddly quiet.

She coughed, drawing attention back to her, "So, what's the plan for breakfast then? We're skipping it or something easy?"

Blue puffed out his cheeks, indigent, "Y/N! YOU SHOULD NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST!" He pointed a finger at her, "THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR BREAKFAST."

"WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TOAST AND CEREAL TODAY. AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO HELP PREPARING IT!"

Y/n looked away from Papyrus to Edge, "Even Edge?"

He turned to glower at her, "OF COURSE!" He waved a hand at Papyrus and Blueberry's general direction, "THESE IDIOTS NEED MY EXPERTISE IF WE HAVE ANY HOPE OF STICKING TO OUR SCHEDULE."

She nodded, no longer listening to his answer after he confirmed his participation, "So, do you need my help?"

Papyrus shock his head, "NO, WE'VE GOT IT."

"YEA, YOU SHOULD SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH OUR BROTHERS! THEY'VE BEEN ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU!"

"Really?"

She looked away from Blue's eager expression to the three lazier brothers, who looked unapologetic for talking about her behind her back. She didn't even notice the three 'cooks' leave for the kitchen, although she sure heard them banging and clanging around in there.

Sans shrugged, noticing her glare, "our bros seem to really like you and we just wanted to know what you were doing with them."

"Because you don't trust me?"

"because we were curious."

She continued to glare at them, eventually causing Red to laugh sarcastically, "what, you don't trust us?" He settled his head into his arms, "isn't that fuckin rich?"

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"so um, yea, pretending that didn't happen," Stretch walked back over to his chair, rocking it back on two legs, "the plan today is to take it easy while our bros are out doing the shopping."

"How did you manage to talk your way out of shopping with them?"

Stretch laughed, "oh, just you wait." He looked at the other two, "what do we reckon? anyone gonna take a bet that they don't give us a chore list?"

Red laughed, "ain't no one dumb enough to take that bet."

"papyrus thinks they'll be back late enough that they'll have to eat out."

Stretch and Red chuckled.

"they're not going to like that." Stretch agreed.

Just then, Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge came out juggling the makings for toast and cereal.

Blueberry bounded over to her vent, stars in his eyes as he looked up at her, "Y/N, WILL YOU COME OUT AND HAVE BREAKFAST WITH US, PLEASE?"

Before she could decline, Edge spoke up, smirking, "DON'T BOTHER. THE PEST IS MUCH TOO SCARED FOR THAT!"

How dare he say that after the stunt he pulled last night! She'd be damned if she allowed Edge to think he had cowered her!

"EDGE, THAT'S RUDE. Y/N DOESN'T-"

"Yes Blueberry, I will join you for breakfast."

Every eye light, once more, focused on her. She met every one of them defiantly, even as her breathing hitched. Before anyone could stop her (including herself), she threw herself out of the vent, the impact from the fall jarring her legs.

"Y/N!" Blueberry rushed over, crouching low to look at her while the rest of the room moved to see her, "Y/N! ARE YOU OKAY?"

She looked up at Blueberry, forgetting just how colourful his jogging outfit was, especially when close up, "Of course." She noticed several concerned faces looking at her behind Blue's back, "Why shouldn't - oh!" She laughed, "You guys aren't forgetting that I'm a bitty, right?" She smiled back at Blueberry, "Falling from heights like that doesn't hurt me, but thank you for asking."

"YOU COULD HAVE JUST ASKED FOR HELP" Blueberry mumbled. He perked up, "WOULD YOU LIKE HELP GETTING TO THE TABLE?"

"No thanks, I've got it."

"Y/N" He huffed, "TRUST ME, PLEASE."

She hesitated, looking up at the earnest expression on Blueberry's face. Blueberry, who had helped tackle Edge to protect her, who had kept his word and hadn't told Stretch where she was.

She nodded slowly, causing Blueberry to squeak in excitement as he quickly extended his hand. Slowly, she placed her hand on his thumb, looking past his delighted expression to see everyone's disbelieving expressions (everyone but Papyrus, who gave her a thumbs-up). Returning Papyrus's thumbs-up, she moved onto Blueberry's hand, holding tightly onto his thumb as she was lifted up to the table.

Quickly hopping off, she made her to the empty space next to Papyrus, with Blueberry sitting next to her. Sitting crossed legged, she caught Edge staring at her and stuck her tongue at the jackwagon, feeling more scared than she hoped she appeared. She expected him to look angry, miffed that she dared to stuck her tongue at him. So why did he just look smug?

"Y/N, WOULD YOU LIKE CEREAL OR TOAST?" Papyrus asked.

She looked from Edge to stare sadly at the cereal selection, knowing her answer to any of those had to be no. No spoon that was the right size for her, with pieces bigger than her mouth? Yeah...

"I'll have toast, please."

After handing her a slice on a saucer, Papyrus reached for his own piece of toast, completely unperturbed by her presence...unlike the rest of the household, who were still staring at her.

"aren't you going to have anything on that?" asked Sans.

She smiled, "Sure, a spoonful of that please." She pointed to her favourite spread.

Clearly confused, Sans scooped out a spoonful, passing it along to Blueberry, who placed it near her. Tearing off a piece, she dipped the toast in the spread, humming in delight as she enjoyed something she hadn't had access to in a long time.

She could still feel all eyes on her, her skin crawling as she shifted in her spot. She trusted Papyrus and Blueberry to keep her safe, but that didn't mean she wasn't currently sitting with one leg up, ready to sprint off the table.  The room was also strangely quiet as they all watched her eat...again.

"Seriously guys, is there something strange about me eating?"

Almost all the skeletons looked away, blushing different colours. Red, however, smiled lazily, "you make strange, happy humming noises when you eat, and we think it's cute."

Blushing, Y/n looked away from the satisfied expression he wore.

"I'm not the only one cute today, hey ruby lips?" She smirked back at him, happy to see his scowl back.

~*~

Breakfast was...awkward to say the least. Y/n had refused to answer any questions about the house or herself, leaving Papyrus and Blueberry to talk about the weather in loud and forced details. Their brothers had tried to lighten the mood with some puns, but Y/n had left pretty quickly after scoffing down breakfast as fast as she could, jumping off the table and heading off for the ground vent. During the entire rushed meal, she had felt like an intruder at a family gathering, one where she was barely tolerated by half of them.

 _'Not that I blame them,'_ she thought, _'and not that I should care. After all, I'm trying to get them out of my house.'_

That thought no longer carried the absolution it once had.

Right now, she was watching the three skeletons she could depend upon on for protection (to varying degrees) leaving, giving their brothers, whom she still didn't know anything about, their final marching order.

"AND WHEN WE COME BACK, YOUR ROOMS SHOULD BE SET UP. NO MORE OF BEING SO LAZY!"

"you got it bro" Sans winked at Papyrus.

Blueberry pointed at his brother "YEA! AND YOUR FACES HAD BETTER BE CLEANED TOO!"

Stretch's reaction was to shrug and to sink further into his chair.

Edge merely nodded at Red, his glare intense. Red's response was to shrink into his hoodie, sweat beading his skull.

No sooner had the three brothers closed the front door behind them, did the remaining three turn to each other, smirking.

"so, we going to do our rooms today?"

There was a brief pause, before all three skeletons chuckled, "nah."

Sans sighed, "guess we should at least have showers."

Stretch looked at the pack of cigarettes he had in his hand, before sighing and tucking them into his shorts, "i'm gonna go first. get it out of the way so i can have a cigarette."

"what, can't wait a few minutes ash tray?" Red laughed.

Stretch rolled his eyes, moving towards the bathroom, "don't pretend you don't smoke when edge is out of the house."

With Sans and Red remained behind in the dining room, Stretch moved into the bathroom, the sound of rushing water hitting the floor could be heard from the vent in the hall. So it was Y/n could hear the subtle change as water began to hit Stretch's body instead. It took a moment, but eventually she heard "what the...oh god damn it y/n."

The next thing she saw was Stretch walking out of the bathroom and into the dining room, wearing nothing but his shorts and dripping red water that had turned every inch where the water had touched him pink.

Guffawing, Y/n clung to her sides, unable to look at the cross pink skeleton, or the two flabbergasted skeletons staring in shock at their fellow pink roommate. At least, they were for a while, before Red started howling, pointing at Stretch while Sans struggled to talk through his own repressed laughter.

"what happened?" Sans asked, watching red water dripping off Stretch's skull and bones.

Stretch narrowed his eyes, "i'll give you three guesses."

Sans snickered, but tried again, "okay, then why didn't you dry off?"

Stretch crossed his arms, pointedly ignore Red still laughing at him, "i'm not risking it. she's obviously booby-trapped the bathroom." He shrugged, stepping aside, "if you want to try your luck, be my guest."

Red stood up straight, rolling his eye lights, "pfft, just because you're dumb enough to fall for the tampered shower head trick doesn't mean there's more traps."

"go on then red, you turn."

Red pushed past Stretch, "fine, you big pink baby."

Sans called after him, "i'll be tickled pink to see if you're right red."

Stretch grinned while Red entered the bathroom snickering, closing the door behind him. There were sounds of metal and tiles clacking as Red, most likely, looked for other traps.

Sans turned to Stretch, "what are the odds of red coming out clean?"

"Very low."

Both skeletons looked up to see Y/n grinning down at them, winking.

Stretch chuckled under his breath, "cheeky girl."

Sans grinned, "guess that explains the red hands."

Stretch groaned, "and i thought it was just from the red lip stick. wish i had thought about that just a bit more."

The sound of running water started up again. It took awhile, but eventually the sound changed to water hitting a body. For the next 5 minutes, everybody waited to see if Red would emerging in the same furious-pink state Stretch had been.

The water was eventually turned off and everyone could hear Red boasting "suck it y/n!" Then there was silence before the bathroom door suddenly exploded and he came marching out, naked, holding a red towel and dyed pink. Before anyone could comment, Red hurled the towel at the wall, before marching off upstairs. Everyone looked to the wall to see an ugly red stain-splatter, the red towel crumpled on the floor below it.

Stretch and Y/n howled, each falling to their knees as they struggled to breathe. Sans chuckled, but now was looking quite nervous. Stretch managed to push himself up from the floor, nudging Sans with his elbow, "hehe, come on sans, your- *snicker* your turn."

Sans was sweating now, "any chance i can get out of it?"

Stretch and Y/n shock their heads, their mirth starting up again.

Sans heavily sighed, grabbing a clean towel from the lien press and entered the bathroom like a condemned man, while Stretch and Y/n gave him reassuring thumbs-up.

The moment running water could be heard, Stretch leaned against the wall, pulling a cigarette from his shorts and lighting it up. Taking a puff, he looked up to Y/n, "you do realise that this means a prank war, right?"

Y/n laughed, "I'm not scared."

Stretch chuckled, moving over to examine the dyed towel still on the floor.

The water turned off and then they both could hear the sounds of teeth getting brushed. There were several repeats of spitting and rinsing before they both head Sans yell "y/n!"

Sans came out, a towel tied around his hips, and every single tooth in his grin dyed pink. Y/n fell backwards laughing, her sides were aching so much from all their expressions today, she could barely breathe!

Stretch snickered, although he looked more sympathetic, "aw man that sucks. sorry sans."

"y/n" Sans voice carried a stern warning, "you have any idea how horrible it is to gargle bleach?"

"Pffft! Good luck with that pinky!"

Y/n left, her chortles echoing around the ventilation system as she went.

"we're going to get some payback, yea?"

"yep", Sans pink grin grew larger.

~*~

Y/n had been lounging in her room for a few hours now.  She had been busy responding to Papyrus and Blueberry's texts, who keep her informed about their shopping progress while she made vague hints about their brother's 'tickled pink' situation. They both had responded with various expressions of happiness at the idea of Y/n and their brothers were getting along.

She grinned, _'Guess that's one way of putting it.'_

She hadn't heard anything from the pink brothers, other than a decision to get 'Grillbys' for lunch. The thought that they would refuse to feed her didn't concern her; it wouldn't be the first time she had gone without food. What mainly concerned her was what they were discussing away from the house.

Sans calling up to her for lunch interrupted her thoughts.

Shrugging, figuring that she would have to face them eventually, she made her way cautiously towards Sans call, apparently coming from the kitchen.

As she approached the kitchen's vent and looked into the room, she saw Sans walking away to sit at the small table with his back to her, Red and Stretch on either side of him, both still dyed pink. Below her, was a saucer plate with a small cut of burger on it. It looked good, but...

"you can come out, we haven't done anything to it."

She paused with her hands still tracing the edges of the vent, feeling for anything that might indicate a trap, to look in disbelief at Stretch who was giving her a side glance.

Red shrugged, bitting into his own bugger, "not like we'd say anythin' if we had."

Y/n ignored them but quietly agreed with Red, pressing herself into the vent bars to look up. She couldn't see anything hanging above the entrance and it didn't seem like there was anything latched on the bars.

She looked back at the three skeletons, who ignored her while eating their burgers. They were awfully quite, although that probably had more to with the fact that these guys weren't the boisterous brothers she had gotten used to. Still, they didn't strike her as the type to let her get away with dying them pink.

Figuring it was probably safer to avoid this vent, Y/n walked around, coming out of the dining room's vent instead. Making her to the kitchen, from this angle she saw that all three skeletons had their eyes closed in bliss, humming with satisfaction while they ate. She wondered just how good the burgers were or if these guys just really appreciated food. Either way, from here, she could tell that nothing was near or above the vent.

_'Which probably just means that there's something wrong with the food.'_

Climbing up the draws, Y/n cautiously approached the burger slice on the kitchen bench. Now that she was closer, she could confirm that there as indeed nothing near the vent or indeed the plate. The burger looked okay, no strange smells or colours that gave any indication that it had been tampered with. She approached slowly, her eyes scanning the whole area and the three skeletons, who continued to ignore her, enjoying their burgers.

Lifting up the bun, Y/n still couldn't see anything wrong. When she licked the sauce off her fingers, it tasted okay. Actually, it tasted awesome!

Giving in to temptation, she lifted the sweet burger piece, taking a huge bite. She hummed in appreciation, as a huge smile came over her face, she enjoyed what had to be the best burger she had ever had.

While she chewed, she spied something on the plate that caught her attention. It was a small x.

"y/n?"

She looked away from the x to see all three skeletons sitting at the table turned to face her now, each glowing a single eye of a different colour, with wisps of magic blazing from their sockets.

"get dunked on!"

An icy, colourful waterfall hit her as three lots of colours were dumped on her at once. She gasped, her muscles screaming in shock as her brain processed the frozen sensation as actually shards of ice bounced off her skin, her lungs pulling in heaps of shocked air. The burger was quickly dropped from her hands as her fingers refused to close.

She barely registered the guffaws of the three skeletons, who were in various stages of inconsolable fits of laughter, as she struggled to breathe out with her arms still outstretched in shock. Looking down at herself, she saw her clothes and skin had been dyed blue, red and yellow with the colours mixing, creating a tie-dyed effect on every inch of her. Nearby, there were three, empty food dye bottles, laying where they had fallen and soaked burger pieces dyed in various colours.

_'But I didn't se- oh god damn it, I forgot about magic!'_

Fuming and blushing at her stupidity, she turned away from the sight of Red on the floor, Stretch collapsed on the table and Sans struggling to stand. She walked across the bench and towards the sink, each step making a squishy sound that left alternating coloured foot prints. Their laughter only increased every time they looked back up at her.

Turning on the tap and abandoning her tie-dyed backpack, Y/n jumped into the sink, shrieking again as the cold water hit her, while the three pink idiots' laughter only grew louder. She forgot that the water took a while to heat up! Thoroughly embarrassed, she rubbed her hands over her body, trying to wring out as much of the colours from her hairs, skin and clothes as she could.

When the water around her began to run clean, she stepped out from under the running water and attempted to climb out of the sink. The keyword was 'attempted'. The sink was a bowl shape, making climbing out of it a challenge as she tried multiple times to run up the side, only to slide back down. Apparently, the skeletons had a good angle to see all this as their laughter exploded the first time she ran, slipped and slide back down into the sink on her face.

_'I sincerely hoped that skeletons needed to breathe so that they could choke themselves to death on their own laughter! A human would have passed out by now but, nooo, these guys were still going!'_

Finally, desperately grasping the edge, Y/n managed to haul herself out of the sink and flopped onto the counter top, her cheats heaving. She refused to move, both out of wounded pride and physical exhaustion. From her collapsed position, she got the joy of listening to the skeletons laughing their coccyx's off. Tuning it out wasn’t working, not matter how she wished it would. She could actually feel the sound vibrations in her chest, they were laughing that hard!

After a time, the tap was turned off and a face cloth was pushed into her view. Looking up, she saw Sans had come over, barely hiding his snickers, offering the towel. She looked away from him, stubbornly refusing to meet his eye and huge grin.

"aww come on y/n. you knew we'd get our payback eventually."

She folded her arms, glaring at the wall.

Red called out, "hey, we didn't push you into the sink baby doll. that was all you're brilliant idea."

She flipped the whole table off without looking away from her staring competition with the wall. Red responded with a gruff laugh.

The towel was gently placed by her side, as Sans walked away.

"ah well, guess we'll just have to throw away this bitty-sized burger and chips, and this human soft-drink we got."

"Soft-drink?"

She turned over, looking back. Stretch was waving a bottle of her favourite drink, icy cold with condensation dripping as he waved it around. The last time she had anything sweet or caffeinated was...since a little before becoming a bitty. Oh how she missed it! Why couldn't she be one of the bitties who had forgotten what junk food tasted like?

Stretch smiled, looking back at her the drink, "yea, while we were getting the food dye,-" (she looked away again, miffed at that stab at her humiliation) "-i asked the shop owner what was the most popular human drink they had." He chuckled, "tell me, is this any good or should we just throw this away?"

Sitting up, she glared at the pompous pink jerks that were grinning at her like a cat grins at a cannery. Oh, they knew she wanted that drink; if she had any hopes of pretending otherwise, it had vanished the moment she had perked up at the phrase 'soft-drink'. Now they sat there, waiting for her to cave. Funny thing though, she was pretty stubborn.

She pushed herself up, grabbed the towel and made her way back to the vent. She'd rather see that sweet, precious drink poured down the drain then beg for it.

Sans sighed, "look kid, we're good, okay." She looked back to see Sans shrug, now sitting on the other side of the table, "we got our payback, so you don't have to worry about anything else."

Red looked like he disagreed with that, but he didn't state otherwise.

Stretch nodded, "yea, come and join us for lunch y/n." He swished the bottle around, "it's getting warm."

"Do you promise there won't be any more pranks and that we're even?"

She knew it was childish, barely one step above 'do you pinkie swear?', but she desperately needed something to give her hope. Something she could refer back to as to why she should never trust again. Something that, when they inevitably broke their promises, would stop the building feelings of guilt and empathy she was staring to develop for these numbskulls (the current situation not withstanding). Oh, she didn't trust them when it came to how safe she felt from pranking, but she cautiously realising that she just might trust them not to trap her, to force her away or to kill her. That was more than she could say about any other person she had met since becoming a bitty.

For whatever reason, all three skeletons looked really uncomfortable. Sans must have noticed the look she was making, watching them reluctant to make the promise, as he quickly said, "sure kid, i promise that there are no more pranks."

Stretch chuckled, leaning back on his chair and looking over at her, “if it will make you feel better, i promise we're even and there will be no more pranking from me today."

Red glowered, before a thought seemed to occur to him as he smirked, "I promise not ter prank ya durin lunch."

She glared at him, everyone realising the massive loop hole he had given himself. She hardly blamed him though. If he was anything like his brother, he would never be what she considered an 'ally'.

"Okay then." After all, that was probably as good as she was going to get from them....and she did want that drink.

She jumped down from the vent, wrapping the towel around her and her bag more securely and moved towards the table.

"would you like any help getting up here kid?"

She shook her head at Sans's offer, grunting in effort as she jumped and pulled herself up the chair, then table.

After this morning, she felt a bit braver being so close to these brothers (even as she sat slightly away from Red), sitting on the very edge of the table with a towel wrapped around her shoulders also helped.

"here you go."

She looked at the offered second saucer plate, with an actually miniature burger on it, and not just a slice like the last one had been.

"And what have you done to this one?"

Sans shook his head, "nah, i wouldn't wreak a good burger kid."

"yea, we got our payback. we're good" Stretch smiled, with a hand over where a heart would be, "we promised, remember?"

Cautiously, she took the plate from Sans, who smiled before grabbing his own bugger.

Y/n started at the burger on her plate, "I didn't know there's a place that sells bitty-sized burgers."

"it's actually monster sized. monsters come in different sizes after all" Sans shrugged.

"that's a pretty big smile you've got there kid. it's just a small burger."

Looking to Stretch, she raised a hand to her face realising that she, indeed, had been smiling. Looking back to the burger, holding something that wasn't a slice of something almost made her feel...normal.

"It's nothing."

Stretch shrugged, cracking open the drink and dropping a straw into it. With a push, he slid it towards Y/n.

"here you go fun size."

Happily, she held the straw in her hands, before she narrowed her eyes at all the skeletons at the table, "if you've done anything to this drink..."

Sans smiled, "we wouldn't _fibula_ , would we guys?"

"not unless it was _humerus_ " smirked Red.

Stretch leaned back, a chip between his teeth, "you can trust us kid, we don't have the _guts_ to go back on our promises."

_'Time to test the worth of their promises then.'_

With a shrug and purposely ignoring the puns, she took a long sip. She hummed in happy bliss as that sweet, sweet elixir entered her mouth. Oh, how she missed it! She wounded if she could convince one of the skeletons to fill a bowl with this so she could swim in it!

After a while, she noticed that all three skeletons were watching her intently, faint traces of blush on all of their cheeks. Too late, she realised that she had been making happy murmuring sounds again with a huge goofy grin plastered on her face. Looking away, she blushed harder with this latest embarrassment, somehow feeling worse now than she did during the whole 'sink' thing.

Refusing to look at them, she knocked away the straw and moved to sit crossed-legged, dragging the saucer towards her. Staring intently at the burger, she jammed into her mouth. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could hide her shame.

"aw, come on kid, we didn't mean to _rattle your bones_."

She ignored Sans, continuing to chew the mouthful she had.

"there's no need to _skull_ -k kiddo" Stretch grinned.

Red laughed, "hee, you need to grow a _spine_ and learn how to take a joke."

" _tibia_ honest, she's been quite brave so far."

"yea, we're just _ribbing_ ya. you don't have to guzzle that burg so quickly."

She glared at the whole lot of them.

"she sure loves to give us that _sternum_ look, don't she?"

"almost like she loves our _scapula-ous_ puns."

"good thing we have a _skele-ton_ of them then."

"we work them right to them _carpals_ after all."

"I can _patella_ one thing."

"is it that we're _numbskulls_?"

"and that's just the _radius_ of our problems."

She snapped.

“Your brothers are right; your puns are horrible!”

Jumping off the table, Y/n left for the vent. The drink was not worth tolerating their puns! As she left, she heard the distinct sound of three pairs of hands high-fiving.

_'Oh like hell they were getting away with this!'_

~*~

Getting food dye out clothes and skin was a pain, so she hadn't bothered. Of course, she briefly toyed with the idea of using toothbrushes to scrub herself clean, but doing so would have cut into her revenge-planning-time.

 _'Maybe later.'_ she thought with a smile.

She knew that she wasn't innocent and she didn't pretend to be, but she'd be damned if she didn't get some payback for the barrage of bad skeleton puns she had just endured. If she never heard another bone pun, it would be several lifetimes too soon.

The first thing she required was a computer.

From memory, Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge had their computers set up and ready to use, but she wasn't sure if they were password protected.

Taking a gamble that they weren't, she headed towards Edge's room. If she was going to play around with other people's things, it might as well be with the guy she was already messing with.

Looking into Edge's room, she saw another tripwire had been set up near the vent's entrance. Following the wire, she saw it lead to a net below her. Rolling her eyes, she quickly cut the wire, watching as the net zoomed up and past her, hitting the roof. Gleefully, she pushed passed the vent and prepared to jump.

Suddenly, there was a rush of movement above her and she just barely managed to pull her body back into the vent in time as something plummeted to the ground. Breathing heavily, she cautiously looked below to see the same net again.

_'How did that trigger!? I didn't see or feel anything!'_

Realising that she had been severely underestimating Edge's abilities, she approached the vent's entrance with a lot more caution. With a simple drop, she landed on the soft carpet, crouching while she waited for a sign of another trap trigging. When one didn't, she stood up and looked around.

The first thing she saw and headed to was the mirror, smiling as she recalled Edge's cries of outrage that one night. Imaging what he might say tonight, she quickly fetched out the hot pink crayon again before redrawing the stick figure flipping the bird. After admiring her work, she turned to climb the desk.

The laptop looked impressive, certainly higher-end. Fingers crossed, she powered it on and was pleased to see that the laptop was already powered on, activating from sleep mode. Whatever Edge had been doing was still up on the screen. There were numerous websites for random supplies, things one might need if you planned to build everything yourself, but the site currently left opened was a website that talked all about bitty health.

Concerned, Y/n briefly looked over the information but saw nothing too troubling. Just the basics really, how she was biologically human with (supposedly) no recollection of past self or memories. Adult bitties were rare than children bitties and no one knew what had caused the change. Some people though the monster's appearance had done it, but they had already been up on the surface for several months before bitties had suddenly turned up, and scientific studies hadn't found any links so far.

There was no cure or reversal, and the bitty population was reaming stable.

The rest of the page was dedicated to people asking bitty questions with other people supplying answers. One of those questions even made her laugh:"Do bitties hum while eating? Is it like purring?" Unsurprising, the responses were various nos, that the bitty was probably just happy eating whatever it was.

She felt surprised to see this site, but she knew she shouldn't be. Now that she thought about it, the whole skeleton family had probably looked up information about bitties by now, considering who was tormenting them. What was weird was why this was up now, after how many days since Edge knew about her existence?

Shrugging it off, she clicked on a new tab. A quick Google search gave her all the information she needed. Pulling out her phone and propping it up, she dialled the first number.

"Hi there, do you do home deliveries?"

~*~

Wiping her history from Edge's computer had been simple enough, but now she was bored. She had nothing to do but to wait for dinner tonight and she still didn't feel like scrubbing herself, which would require a lot of water anyway. Besides, she could hear someone in the shower, probably trying to scrub the pink off their bones. Smiling maliciously, Y/n headed for basement, aiming for the water system

_‘It’s time to figure out if skeletons can feel cold.’_

Before she approached the vent leading to the basement door however, she could hear gaming sounds. Curiosity peeked, she rushed eagerly towards it.

Stretch had booted up her favourite fighting game, leaning back on the couch with his feet propped up along the rest of the couch. He had set himself up pretty good too; two soft-drinks and a bowl of chips on the living room table.

Looking at his score, Y/n noticed that Stretch was good, actually, which was kind of irritating her. How can someone so relaxed be playing this well? Actually, if she was really honest, she was just plain old jealous of Stretch right now; not even she got to her enjoy her own games. Not anymore.

“i know that you're there.”

Y/n jumped away from the vent bars, looking back to see Stretch smiling over his shoulder at her.

He looked back to the game, “if you want to, can you always join me. i’ve still got your drink here with me and these chips aren’t going to eat themselves.”

He waved a second controller, “player 2?”

Y/n would be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted. Between the soft-drink, chips and the fact that she hadn’t had a chance to play video games in what felt like forever, Stretch was quite the tempter today.

_‘If only Sara knew about these weak spots of mine, I would probably have been caught ages ago.’_

“I…I.”

She sat down, pressing her head to the vent bars, “No thanks, I’m good.”

Stretch paused the game, turning to face her, “kid, i promised no more pranks. you’re perfectly safe from me.”

She smiled sadly, “I can’t risk it.”

He looked at her for a long time, before he reached over, grabbed a pillow and threw it over towards the ground vent. Using his orange glowing magic, he lifted and placed the second controller and a few chips on top of the pillow, her soft-drink off to the side.

“how about now?”

That worked, weirdly enough, which just made her even more paranoid about why he bothered. She looked at him, confused, “Why did you do that?”

He shrugged, “blue isn’t here and playing with someone is always more fun. what’s better than playing a game with a friend? “

“Friend?”

Stretch reached inside of his hoodie, pulling out his phone. Playing around with it, he eventually pulled up a photo, which he showed her. It was from yesterday, with Papyrus and Blueberry dyed blue and looking awkward and guilty as all hell, with her just peaking over Papyrus's shoulder, tongue out.

“anyone who can make my bro that happy is a friend of mine.”

She looked away from the photo to see Stretch looking intently at her. Looking back at the photo, she laughed in disbelief, “Happy? He looks like he’s in trouble!”

He chuckled, “maybe to you, but i can tell he’s really happy right there.” He looked at her, "would you like a copy?"

She looked back at the photo. She couldn't deny that she had a really great time yesterday and that the photo was a really good reminder of that time. She couldn’t remember the last time she had fun like that, even since before becoming a bitty. However, to get that photo, she would have to give him her number….

_‘What harm could he possibly do if he had my phone number?’_

“If I join you and give you my number for that photo, do you swear you’re not up to no good?”

Stretch chuckled, “I solemnly swear that I am not up to no good.”

Y/n smiled, making her way through the vent system till she pushed through the ground vent, climbing up to the pillow. His phone was already there, waiting to send the picture. Looking up at him, she noticed that his attention was back on the screen, maneuvering it back to the main menu so that she could be added as a player.

She sent the picture to her phone and settled into a comfortable position, whispering, “Thanks, Stretch.”

He shrugged, an orange glow lifting his phone back to him, “eh, it’s no big deal kid.” He winked over at her, “it’s your gaming system anyway, fun size.”

She grinned, “And you better remember that was I’m winning pinky.”

He chuckled, settling back into his lax position once again.

~*~

Playing against Stretch was…challenging, to say the least. The control not meant for her size, which meant she had to physically lean from side to side, sometimes running left to right when she leaned too far. Luckily, she knew the game better than Stretch, knew the levels and what combinations to use and when. So while she wasn't flat out kicking his butt, she was in the lead. Although, and she couldn’t confirm this, she suspected that he was letting her win. She kept seeing him watching her from the corner of her eye, his quiet chuckles as she celebrated every victory and raged against every defeat. The more she suspected that he was watching her, the more animate her movements became as she grew flustered and slightly embarrassed. She couldn't help it! Playing video games always got her pumped up, particularly if she could see the person she was playing against!

At some point during an intense match, Red came into the room, white again.

“shower’s empty if you want to use it.”

Stretch didn’t look away from the screen, dodging Y/n’s attacks once again (his favourite fighting style, she had come to realise angrily), “busy right now. what about sans?”

Red shrugged, leaving the room with a grin aimed at Y/n.

Stretch paused the game, looking down at her quizzically, "what was that about?"

Y/n watched Red’s retreating back, “It means I should have gotten to the water system sooner.” she muttered.

Stretch looked at her, inquisitively.

“Never mind.”

He shrugged, pulling out a cigarette. He started to light it up, before he looked at her, seeing her watching him.

“mind if I have a light?”

She shrugged, turning back to the screen. “I’d much rather you smoked outside or in your room though.”

To her surprise, he pocketed the cigarette.

He unpaused the game and they quickly resumed the match.

"by the way, thanks for playing with my bro the other day."

Y/n chortled before she could stop herself, "Are you seriously thanking me for dying him blue? Next you'll be thanking me for dying you pink!"

"my favourite colours" he muttered under his breath.

They continued in silence, Y/n in concentration and Stretch in silent contemplation.

“Yes!” she cried suddenly as she won the round.

Stretch chuckled, reminding Y/n that she wasn’t alone and that someone just totally saw her unrestrained enthusiasm…again. She blushed hard, avoiding his eyes she could feel on her.

“you’re pretty good at this.”

She grinned shyly, not bothering to look away from the screen, “I use to love my games. Nothing helps me unwind quite like a good match.”

“what happened?”

She levelled a stare at him, "Really? You don't see anything wrong here?” She gestured vaguely at her controller that just smaller than she was. She shrugged and returned her attention to the game, “Just another thing that I can't hav-YOU DODGING SON OF A BITCH! YEA!!”

She jumped up, whooping, “I win!” She turned to face him, “IN. YOUR.FAC-“

He was staring at her, mouth agape with a slight smile curling his expression.

In that brief moment, her emotions swung from victory and pride to shame and regret, then all she could feel was bitter humiliation as Stretch collapsed onto the couch, howling with laughter.

"Okay, I'm done playing now!!"

She fled into the vent, Stretch’s laughter following her while she sought a quiet place to hide her neon red face and disgrace.

_‘Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god WHY DID I DO THAT?!’_

It would be awhile before she could look him in the eye and not be remained of this latest embarrassment. She sincerely hoped no one was keeping track of the score because right now, she felt like she was losing the embarrassing games.

Deep in the ventilation, where she was hiding, Y/n became aware of the sounds of someone's deep snoring echoing through the ventilation system.

 _'Perfect! Time for some misdirected revenge.'_ , she grinned.

She followed the sound of deep snores coming from the direction of the study room.

As she popped out of the study vent, Y/n could see Sans sleeping on the study chair, back propped up by the desk and one leg up by the window's ledge, with a book resting on his chest where it had fallen. All at once, she felt a surge of aching familiarity as Sans's visage was replaced by her dad, their sleeping positions and their snores echoes of each other.

She could feel a small smile pulling at her lips while her eyes moistened. How many years had it been since she saw Dad in this sleeping position, claiming he was just resting his eyes? How long ago had she last seen his sleeping expressions, how his face would turn and twist as she steadily woke him up? When was the last time he finally woke up in a playful anger or his quick retribution as he grabbed her, tickling an apology out of her?

She found herself on the study desk with no real recollection of climbing up, staring at Sans's sleeping face. Guided by memories, she blew a puff of air into his face, shrinking back as his face twisted into a grimace before relaxing again. Her smile grew. Blowing another puff of air, Y/n watched as Sans swatted vaguely over his face, still in a sleep state. Fully grinning now, she carefully stretched across his face, her body laying across his brow as she reached for his nasal cavity. Luckily, she already knew that Sans was a heavy sleeper from this morning's antics. She tickled the edges of his nasal cavity, wiggling and scratching the hard bone. Sans gave a loud snort, his head twisting side to side while Y/n used her hands to keep from sliding.

Sans eventually settled back into his prevision position, whining "nooooo" under his breath. Y/n giggled, reaching for another tickle. She could feel his cheeks twisting near her, air being pulled in great volumes in and out of his nasal cavity. She snickered every time he made a sleepy noise complaint, thoroughly enjoying his reactions.

"y/n?"

Lifting an arm up, she looked back down to see a bright eye light staring back at her. Gasping, she pushed herself up and ran forward, across his pink teeth, and headed for the window's ledge.  Doing this must have startled Sans because he shot up and toppled Y/n off balance, so that she slid down and landed on his lap.

She stared up at Sans with an arm outstretched, her legs trapped under her where she had fallen. "I'm sorry!" She cried.

They stared at each other for a long time, Y/n's chest still heaving while her body waited for Sans next move. Her mind was too overcome with fear and panic for her to even begin to attempt to formulate some sort of plan out of this mess.

Sans said, carefully and slowly, "okay, i'm not going to make any sudden movements. just please, don't use that pin."

Confused, she looked at her hand to see that, yes, she had one hand hovering around her pin's head.

_'But why does he look so concerned?'_

Then she looked around her, where she was sitting on him, and it clicked.

She cracked, her hands brought up to her face in a sad attempt to hide slide-splitting smile she had as she laughed her ass off. The sudden rush of relief and absurdity over the whole situation brought tears to her eyes. Sans, the skeleton, was concerned that she would stab him in the crotch!

_'Do skeletons even have anything I could stab? How does that even work? Oh god, I'm literally standing on a boner!'_

Her laughter took on a more hysterical edge as she considered the implications of that, especially, where she was currently was. Mentally picturing it caused her cheeks to burn with shame and sin.

Sans still looked nervous, with sweat beading his skull, but he chuckled too. "heh... you okay kid?"

It took her while, but she eventually nodded, smiling up at Sans. "Hee hee, no need to look so nervous there big guy", she smiled with a wink.

He spluttered, looking away from her, but not before she saw a blue blush on his face.

She laughed again, _'Poor guy!'_

Sans coughed, still not looking at her, "i'm not used to a lady literally falling into my lap. so, um, any chance i can get you to move now?"

"And what if I said no?" she grinned cheekily.

Suddenly she was hovering, encased in a blue glow once again. This time she didn't fight it, although Sans had his hands out under her like she might fall. She had fun flying through the air while maintaining eye contact, using both hands to imitating guns and winking as she did so. His blush only grew deeper, which caused her cheeky smile to grow in turn.

When she was safely lowed onto the desk, the blue glow surrounded her vanished. Sans, for some reason, suddenly found outside fascinating.

She laughed, “It's ok Boner, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

He didn’t turn to look at her, although she was sure she saw his blush deepen just then. She was reminded of herself and the embarrassing hell she just endured with Stretch. Suddenly she felt a lot more sympathetic towards Sans’s plight.

She rubbed the back of her neck, now the awkward one, "Look, I'm sorry that I woke you up...and for playing with your nose....hole, I guess."

He chuckled softly, looking at her with lingering blush still on his cheeks, "why'd you do it?"

She didn't immediately answer, choosing to instead look out of the window instead.

"I-I was thinking....."

_'About Dad.'_

_'How I miss him.'_

_‘The passage of time.’_

_'My family.’_

“What family means anymore."

The thought was out of her mouth before she realised it. She had gotten too used to living here by herself, talking to herself out loud without the fear of being overheard.

She looked away, avoiding San's inquisitive stare, "Forget I said anything."

She moved to jump off the desk, but before she had a chance to jump down however, Sans actually responded, surprising her still, "it's the people you love and care for the most, isn't it?"

She paused, still crouching in her prep for jumping. "But it can't be that simple and yet not properly defined."

She turned to look at him, to see what he would say.

Sans shrugged, "why not?"

She huffed, "That's not an answer."

He grinned, "yep it isn't. i believe i just asked a question, actually."

Rolling her eyes, Y/n sat down on the desk's edge, facing him, "Well, can you only have one?"

She waved a hand him, stopping his immediate response, "I mean, you have your brother, but do the other four count as a part of that one family, or are there multiple families living together right now? Would you include yourself as a part of those multiple families?"

Sans rubbed the back of his neck, "jeez, you ask some hard questions." He looked back at her, "obviously we all feel closer to our own brothers, but I do feel a certain amount of affection for Blueberry, Stretch... even Edge and Red when I think about it." He chuckled, "you could say that they're my extended femur-y."

She chuckled at that, Sans's grin growing in response, before she sighed, "that just means that families can change then."

"they can grow and shrink over time, as new and old people come and go." He agreed.

"So, do you get to decide who's in your family then?" She could see he was about to give the obvious answer, so she clarified, "Emotionally, I mean."

Sans sat back, thoughtful this time, "kid, i don't think you or i get much say when it comes to our emotions." He looked out the window, "if you don't feel that emotional family bond, then that person isn't part of your family. at least, not entirely." He shrugged, "if they do, then that person feels like they belong in it. i guess it comes down to what you feel. how you feel about a person greatly affects whether or not they're family to you."

There was a long moment of silence as they both thought about the implications of that.

"Can the dead be a part of family?" she whispered.

Sans looked over at her as she turned away to quietly wipe away a few unwanted tears. They died many years ago, why was this upsetting her now?

"kid... you okay?"

She nodded, refusing to turn around.

_'Shit, he's going think I'm a crying mess. Quick, distract him!'_

She laughed weakly, "I was just thinking about this morning and how sorry I am for pitting your family against one and another."

She continued to face away from him, focusing on calming herself down. So while she couldn't see him, she heard him shift in his chair, followed by a long, deep sigh.

"kid, what-"

He stopped himself. Curious, she wiped away the last tear and slowly turned around to face him.

He was looking awkward again. When he saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, he smiled, trying again. "what brought this on? this wouldn't have anything to do with that cross-stitch paps and blue gave you?"

 _'Cross-stitch?'_ Then she remembered the house-mate warming gift, still tucked in her room.

"Yea!" she smiled, relieved to have been given this lifeline, "I was wondering what they meant by giving it to me."

Sans chuckled, although there was a hint of sadness in his eyes, "i think it means we're happy that you're here kid."

“You're happy to get tormented every day?” she asked in disbelief.

He stuck out a pinkie towards her, "happy to add a couple more bones to our family, if you want that of course, little prankmate."

She looked at his pinkie, but made no move to shake it.

She thought about him, his family and how they treated her.

She thought about herself, her family and her actions.

"I still don't know how I feel about that" she whispered quietly.

Sans withdrew his pinkie, shrugging, "eh, it's not like we're going anywhere anytime soon."

He grinned at Y/n, who knew a challenge when she saw one.

She lifted her head proudly, "You sure about that bone-bag?"

He winked, "i feel it in my bones, littlest roommate."

They both chuckled quietly, both enjoying the simple joy of a simple laugh.

After a silent moment of content, Sans sighed.

"y/n, i've been meaning to tell you but, well, we've sort of commandeered the basement as our own and it's important you don't go down there without permission."

"Permission?" She snapped her attention back to him, the little moment they just shared completely forgotten.

He didn't flinch as he met her glare, "it's important y/n, i wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't."

She crossed her arms, getting angrier, "Why didn't you ask me if it was okay first? What are you doing down there?"

Sans grin noticeable shrank, "we always planned to use the basement y/n. would you rather i have asked and then did what i wanted to anyway?"

She glared at him, genuinely angry for the first time with a monster. With a turn, she ran and jumped off the desk, heading for the vent.

"y/n!"

She ignored him, just like he had ignored her.

~*~

Pushing past the basement door, Y/n struggled to see through the blackness. The light switch that could have helped her was miles above her head and beyond her reach. Luckily, she didn't need it as the light from the hall behind her allowed her to vaguely see what alterations they had made to her basement. Directly in front of her were the dryer and washing machine, moved from their old spot. A quick look at the left revelled why. A huge, metal looking wall enclosed and separated the basement into two sections, almost all of that space now on the other side of it. A heavy looking door with an inactive light sat above the door which was set into the metal wall, just off from the where the washing machines were.

Slowly, Y/n made her way down each step, staring at amazement at the new features. How could she not have seen or heard any of this? Look at it all! It looked like it would have taken a team of specialized work crew weeks to build this. Yet it had only been two days!  Was there no limit to monster's abilities....just what kind of powers did these guys have?

One word stuck out in her memory, something she realised might not have been slang after all:

_"Lab"_

_'What were they up to?'_

Suddenly, Y/n fell through a step she expected to be there. Dazed from the fall, she barely noticed that the thing she had fallen into was something that echoed sound and was cold to the touch.

The lights suddenly turned on, revealing the thing she had fallen into was a big glass jar. Before she could jump and pull herself out, the glass jar was being lifted up, the strength of the g-forces pushing her back down, as she came face to face with a smirking Red.

A lid snapped shut over the jar.

"heh, gotcha."

He tilted the jar one way than the other, watching in amusement as Y/n tumbled from side to side, noting her still colour-stained skin and clothes.

"hey, there skittles. i wonder what flavour you'd be if i licked you."

Y/n stood tall, flipping the bird to Red's flirtatious look, "Shut it, Hot Pink!"

Red leaned his head to one side, considering, "hot pink? i rather like the name, especially coming from your lips, baby doll."

She bristled at the implication, avoiding looking at him.

He tsked, "didn't sans warn you about how dangerous it was down here?"

She reached for the lid, attempting to push it off, "It's rude to listen to other people's conversations creep!"

Red chuckled, "didn't have to. who do you think told him to warn you?" He shook the jar, toppling her from her stance.

He laughed, "knew you wouldn't listen. You're kinda easy to predict skittles."

He made his way back up the stairs, taking her and the jar along as he turned off the light. With his glowing eyes in the dark, Red turned back to look down at Y/n, who unconsciously backed away from his stare. "hey, since you're okay with enterin our space, how about we go to one of yours?"

Suddenly the world shifted and Y/n experienced the feeling of free falling endlessly in a space of a second. Falling to her knees, she tucked herself into a tight ball, willing her head and stomach to calm down, desperately trying to avoid vomiting.

"heh, It's cute when you curl into a small ball like that."

Slowly, she opened her eyes, looked passed Red's grin and saw that they were in Dad's workshop.

"No!" She threw herself against the glass, pounding her fits against her prison, "Stop! what are you doing?" She didn't even care how he somehow managed this impossible, laws-of-physics breaking feet, they were in Dad's workshop!

Red grinned slyly, “don’t know, what am i going to do?”

They stared each other down, Red’s grin growing larger the wider Y/n’s eyes grew in paranoid fear. With renewed desperation, she began to rock the jar, trying to topple out his hands.

A red glow surrounded the jar as Red placed and balanced the jar on the tip of one of his phalanges. With the smack to the jar, he sent the jar spinning, with Y/n pressed to one side. After what felt like an eternity, he eventually grabbed the jar and it came to sudden stopped, with Y/n launched into and smacking the solid glass.

Red howled, clutching his sides with Y/n and the jar pressed into his coat in one hand. Y/n lay on her back, watching the room spinning around and around, slightly concussed. She wasn’t even capable of seeing straight now, let alone running in any intended direction.

After Red calmed down, he lifted the jar to his eye level, his grin as wide as she had ever seen it, "heh, wanna try that again and go for another spin?"

She glared at him, her head held in her hands as she waited for the pounding headache to go.

Red chuckled, "relax, I'm just goin to have a look around baby doll."

With a thud, he placed her and the jar on the nearby bench, before he watched her for a few moments as her struggles to escape increased. Y/n, meanwhile, was trying desperately to think of a way out. Pushing up on the lid wasn't working, toppling the jar would only cause him to spin her again and she didn't have enough grip to twist the lid off without a tool.

_'Luckily, I've still got my backpack with me. Dumb mistake! Sort of like leaving Batman's utility belt with him.'_

Pulling off her bag with a smirk, she dug around and saw several things that could work. Just as she was about to reach for one and bring it out to try, she stilled.

_'He's not an idiot, I am! He's watching me to see what I'll do!'_

There was absolutely no point in escaping if he just grabbed her the moment she popped the lid. She could always try stabbing him with her pin if he grabbed her, but what if he used something else, a cloth or something that didn't feel pain. Last time he managed to pin her arms, and if her plan involved hoping that didn't happen again, it was a bad plan.

_'Then I have to look like I've tried to get out but couldn't. Try to lull him into a false sense of security and spring out of here the first chance I get.'_

Resolved, she reached for her paper clip, one of the items less likely to work. Straightening it out, she jammed it into the lid's underside, attempting to twist it off. Not surprising, the metal bent in her hands, making it useless as leverage.

Throwing it into her bag in disgust, she pulled out her empty pen tube instead. Placing it in the centre of the lid, she attempted to push off the lid, straining in the effort. After a long, agonizing moment, she dropped the pen, looking in pain at her hands as the pressure forced the hard plastic into her skin.

Finally, she grabbed her pin, jamming into the creases where the lid met the jar, trying to leverage it off. When that didn't work, she attacked the glass instead, jabbing again and again. It didn't even leave a scratch.

Huffing, she threw herself to the floor, propping herself up with her bag, as she scowled in frustration while steadfastly refusing to look at Red and his amused smugness, his laughter at every failed attempt to get out.

"hhaaahhahha, oh jeez baby doll, you really ain't smart, aren't chya?"

She continued to scowl, refusing to look at him.

_'Keep yakking it up Hot Pink. First time your back's turned, I'm getting out of here!'_

He whipped away a red tear from the corner of his eye with a sigh, "now, let's see what all the fuss is about."

He made his way around the room, touching everything while keeping his eyes on her for her reactions. Every time he touched something, opened up a draw or deliberately put something down in the wrong sections, Y/n could feel herself grimacing, feeding his enjoyment.

When he approached the sheet covering Dad's final project, she snapped, "Don't touch that!"

Red stilled, his hands placed on the sheet. He turned to fully look at her before, with a smirk, he ripped the sheet off, exposing the half-completed chopper.

Okay, perhaps half completed was a bit of an exaggeration. It was nothing more than a motor set in a frame. Still, all the wiring and mechanical parts of the motor had taken Dad forever, so while it didn't look like it, it did represent at least a quarter of the work done.

*Honk*, *beep* *honk-honk!*

They both looked towards the direction of the car horns, coming from the front yard.

"hun, wonder why they're honking?" Red asked, looking confused.

Y/n knew why he looked confused; this place was really isolated (one of the reasons Sara had trouble selling this place...Y/n was still the main reason though), surrounded by trees on all sides. Here, there was no such thing as 'random car noises'. If you could hear it, it was someone on the property, and if they were using the horn, they wanted someone specifically in the house.

Red shrugged, “if our bros need help, i’m sure sans and stretch have got it.”

Red looked back at her, “this-“ he waved a hand at the chopper, “this is what all the fuss was about?” Red chucked the cloth to the floor, "didn't realise you like motorcycles so much" Red glowered, "bet you loved seeing blueberry roll up on his."

She didn't get why he looked sour at the idea that she might have liked Blue's bike, but "I don't. There's just something about building something with your own hands-" She looked down at her own hands, remembering how Dad had tried explaining it to her. "-I always liked choppers because it's basically like clockwork; every piece is interwoven and connected to make a functioning whole."

Red shrugged, "so it's just an old style motorcycle, so what?"

"So what?!" She pointed to the motor, "you see that little red button? Press it while twisting that lever"

Red rolled his eyes but moved towards the chopper. After struggling to find the right lever, Red managed to turn on the motor, the motor coming to life as it idled.

He looked back at her unimpressed, to see her smiling. She gestured with her hand to rev the throttle lever. He did so, and the motor roared back, the glass panels in the workshop quivering from the sound pressure.

"That's the sound of some many mechanical parts working with each other" she yelled over the noise.

Red turned off the motor, stepping away from it. His back was turned to her, so she couldn't tell if he was still unimpressed or not. Whatever he was thinking, he was staring at Dad's chopper for a good long moment.

She coughed, startling Red out of whatever he had been thinking as he looked over his shoulder to see her, "You asked if I like motorcycles?" She smiled fondly, looking over at the chopper and remembering all the pleasant memories she had of this place. "In truth, what I had really enjoyed was sitting here, on this bench, and watching someone else who was passionate about doing what they loved."

Red, for whatever reason, suddenly looked...sad? His face definitely fell before he glanced away from her.

_‘Maybe now was the time to play on his emotions?’_

“Now, let me out of this jar, jerk!”

_‘Perfect.’_

Before he had a chance to reply-

*Honk*, *beep* *honk-honk!* *beep-beep* *hooonk!* *beeeep-beeeeep!*

"what the fuck is goin on out there?" Red cursed, grabbing her and the jar.

Again, the world shifted and Y/n found herself once again on the jar's floor, in the fetal position this time. When she could look up without the lights having a tracer, she saw that she and Red were in the main hall, staring at the front door.

"-didn't order-"

"Hello, I'm looking for 'Bonealicous?"

"look, that's funny but-"

"Delivery for 'Boning'."

"whatever it is, i don't want it!"

Or to be specific, a front door that was open wide with about a dozen humans teenagers in uniforms holding up fast food, and judging by the beeping horn sounds behind them, there were plenty more of them waiting. Sans and Stretch looked haggard as they attempted to talk to multiple surly teenage employees who weren't eager to hear that they didn't order or their excuses on why they weren't paying.

"what the fuck is goin' on here?!"

Red dumped her and the jar on a nearby tabletop, strolling towards the front door, his retreating back effectively blocking her sight of the front door, Sans and Stretch.

_'Here's my chance!'_

Turning around to her bag, she dug around till she found the dental floss. Measuring it out, she cut off a piece off and tied it around the pin's head. Pulling the other end of the floss string through the empty pen tube, she effectively made a flimsy spear.

With a strong gab off-centre, she tried to force the pin through the lid. The pin bounced back and she accidentally dropped the whole thing from the impact, the noise amplified as it clattered around and to the bottom of the jar. Panicking, she looked at the front door.

"'Broken bone', I'm looking for a 'Broken bone'."

"oh, you're about to get one if you don't clear off!"

With a sigh, she looked back up at the lid, seeing the dent she made. Aiming for it, she pressed the pin-spear hard against it. With a satisfying *Thuck*, the pin pushed through, spearing the lid.

" Which one of you is 'Bone Daddy'?"

"...are you coming on to me?"

Pressing on the empty pen tube, she used her weight to turn and twist the lid off. Holding onto the floss, she pushed the lid off, the pin and floss embedded in it allowing her to lower it gently to the ground without making any noise.

"I'm looking for a 'Boner'?"

"keep looking!"

Repacking her bag, Y/n pulled herself up and out of the jar. With a lurch, the jar toppled over and Y/n landed face first on the table top, the jar sliding off the table with a clatter.

 _‘So much for being quite.’_ She thought bitterly. She quickly looked at the front door but relaxed after what she saw there.

At some point, the skeletons had realised that it was pointless to try to argue with teenagers, instead deciding to just pay them. Money was being exchanged between hands as the skeletons reluctantly forked out cash for unwanted food.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!”

Edge’s voice bellowed behind everyone, the three brothers and the teenagers stilling.

"ALL OF YOU...GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, NOW!!!"

The teenagers scatted, food dropped as they all fled the house, many jumping over the fence and each other in the bid to get out as fast as humanly possible.

Edge stood in the middle of the path leading to the front door seething, Papyrus and Blueberry peering around him looking concerned and confused.

Y/n dove off the bench, running into the safety of the vent as Edge came marching in, Papyrus and Blueberry trailing after him.

“SANS! WHY ARE THERE HUMANS- WHY ARE YOU TWO PINK?!!”

“b-boss! i-i, e-r.”

Edge lifted Red up by the scruff of his jacket, “TELL ME YOU AT LEAST GOT YOUR ROOM DONE AND DIDN’T WASTE TIME ORDERING ALL OF THIS HUMAN FILTH AND DYING YOURSELVES PINK!!”

“easy edge, red didn’t order this food and we didn’t dye ourselves pink.”

Y/n, meanwhile, made her way out of the dining room vent and up the dining room's table, standing before a buffet of fast food selections. Some she knew, others not at all, but she quickly spotted her favourite pizza place's logo and moved towards it.

Red was dropped as Blueberry came over to look at his brother, frowning, “THEN WHAT HAPPENED?”

Stretch shrugged, “we’ve been having a sort of prank war with y/n. guess you can tell what her latest prank was.”

“WELL, DID YOU AT LEAST GET A CHANCE TO ORGANISE YOUR ROOMS?” Papyrus asked.

Sans rubbed the back of his neck, “sorry bro. we just didn’t get the chance today.”

Edge screeched, “NOT ONLY DID YOU DO NOTHING TODAY, BUT MADE YOURSELVES EVEN MORE HIDEOUS THAN YOU WERE THIS MORNING!?!”

"Hey!"

All eye lights focused on Y/n, who was grinning while holding up a slice. Taking a huge bite, she chewed with relish.

When her mouth was empty, she beamed up at the gathered skeleton family, " _Tiba_ honest, this is my favourite pizza. What do you guys think?"

 

Next chapter is called: Frogiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> First up, wow! I thought my writing was sh*t (kindda had to force myself to post these) and that no one would want to read them. I literally tear up every time I read something positive (you probably don't believe that, I certainly wouldn't, it sounds like I'm trying to tug at your heartstrings on purpose). Regardless, thank you everyone who is reading this.....thank you so much.  
> ANYWAY, here's the deal; the skeletons are going to have a bet on who can get our little bitty to stand/ride on their shoulder's first. The winner gets uninterrupted time with her (is this a good/bad thing? *hum?* >=). (Blue doesn't count because it was an emergency and Paps will never admit to this, he swore he wouldn't tell after all)  
> So the question becomes: who do YOU want to see win? I'll be running a poll for a week or two (which will hopefully give me a clue in the direction people want me to take) and the next chapter will be of the chosen Skeleton winning, while the one after that will be the reward, plus other things.  
> EDGE WON?!  
> Final thing; I'm also going to include my tublr account (https://rnd-injustice.tumblr.com/). I'm really new to the whole 'talking to people online' thing, so I figured the more people I meet and interact with, the less awkward I'll be? Who knows. Either way, I'll be talking about upcoming chapters, life in general and other things.... I guess?  
> Either way, thank you all for the support! The more messages I read, the faster I wish I could type.


	5. Frogiveness

The first thing Y/n felt was a cool wetness on the side of her face as she lay on her arms, followed by an odd, rocking movement that was lulling her back to sleep, which she obliged. After yesterday's....well, she could do with a nice, quiet sleep in.

With a hand, she lazily wiped away the saliva trailing from her mouth, _'Oh man, drool. And a lot of it too, by the feel of it...crap.'_

Normally, drool created an unpleasant, morning breath smell that would force her to flip the pillow or to switch arms. Today, strangely enough, all she could smell was a strong, cheesy smell and a faint, chemical smell the reminded her of her favourite water park.

 _'Chlorine.'_ , her brain supplied.

_'...since when does my drool smell like chlorine and cheese?'_

With a start, she pushed up and away from her drool spot, only to collide head first with a hard surface above her, shaking the whole area around her.

"What the...?"

With one hand tracing the 'roof', Y/n finally took in her environment. It was a dark, square place, small with a very low roof. Her lay in the middle of this 'room' and light streamed in from odd holes in the roof. Looking up, she noticed the whole room was made out of this material that felt like it just might be cardboard.

Heart pounding now, she knew that, wherever she was, it proved two things:

The skeletons knew where she slept and she had been moved in her sleep.

Fully panicked, she tried to push the roof up. It budged but didn't give, something on one the edges was holding it in place.

Cursing that her bag was back in her room (wherever that was!) and standing as tall as she could, Y/n started when her movements shook the whole area violently, every step forwards wobbled and lurched the 'room', accompanied with wet squishy sound that forced Y/n to crawl to maintain stability.

_'I'm balanced on water?....Chlorine! I'm in a cardboard box and I'm in a pool!'_

The only thing that kept her calm was the knowledge that this wasn't a murder attempt. The box had holes, the floor was dry despite being in the water and no one would bother with any of this if they had discovered her secret area, not if killing her had been the aim.

 _'It's just a prank, it's just a prank.'_ She repeated to herself as she felt for the box's edge, looking for whatever was holding the roof to this side.

It was an extremely unfunny prank and she would kill the skeleton who did this, but it was just a prank...not a murder attempt.

Finding the cardboard grove that anchored one side to the roof, Y/n pushed it out, allowing herself enough space to force her way through the small hole pushing against the roof created.

Twisting and pulling herself up onto the box's lid, she noted that it was a pizza box. Not just any pizza box either; it was the box from last night, her favourite pizza joint.

Looking away for the ginning pizza logo with a glare, she noticed that she had been right about the pool. It was her pool actually; the pizza box was balanced on one of her body-boards she kept in the small pool shed, off to the side.

With a sigh of frustration, she realised that, unless she wanted to call out for help or wait for the dead skeleton who did this to her to show up, she was going to have to jump in.

"Fine then!"*Splash*

Her clothes were heavier than perhaps was wise for swimming (which she hadn't planned for last night when she had been putting on her pyjamas!)...and it had been awhile since she last swam, even before becoming a bitty, so she wasn't that good at it. Plus, while the pool was a decent size, to her, it was like crossing a lake. To distract herself from the monotonous trudge of swimming, Y/n focused on who the dead skeleton might be.

_'The question is 'How did they find me?'. Could I have been followed after last night?'_

Last night, Edge was angry at her and Papyrus and Blueberry had been disappointed (which had hurt...strangely enough. She hadn't meant to get them with her prank on their brothers). She had tried to spin it by making it seem like it was a 'human buffet', where they could sample the many different flavours, to mixed results. Stretch seemed on board with it, and his encouragements convinced Blueberry and Papyrus to embrace the idea. Sans had shrugged and sat down next to his brother (even as he avoided her eye). Edge had scoffed, till he saw a lasagna from the Italian place she knew. Then he sat down, proclaiming the "inferiority of this sub-par dish". She wasn't sure if anyone else got to try it. Red had pulled a bottle of mustard out of nowhere, slathering everything in it before eating.

Sitting there, watching Papyrus and Blueberry try to make small talk again while everyone else either avoided her eye or glared at her... yea, she left pretty quickly once everyone had settled in. Besides, it took her the rest of the night just to scrub the colour from her skin (her clothes would forever be tie-dyed), and she hadn't heard anyone approach the attic last night.

_'Everyone had been at the table, and I used the vents to leave like I always do. Perhaps they used magic?'_

She thought back on Red, the first time she had met him. The red-eyed dog skull that had scared her, that had followed her movements and appeared to shepherded her towards Red. It was fairly obvious that the dog-skull belonged to Red and if all the skeletons had that ability, they could have used one to follow her.

_'But last time, the creature emitted a distinct red glow. No way I could have missed that in the dark ventilation system.'_

Casting that idea aside, she thought instead about what might have changed yesterday that lead to being found out just recently.

_'Red trapped me and touched Dad's things, Sans talked to me about family before banning me from my own basement and Stretch played games with me, right after he sent me a-'_

"My phone!"

Stretch had her number! She had trusted the monster with her number and he had used it to locate her hidden room! He knew she didn't have her phone on her then, (the alert of the picture received hadn't sounded in her bag yesterday) cause it was up in her room!

_'He probably noticed the lack of noise and figured that I kept my phone wherever I sleep!'_

"That bastard! I trusted him!!"

Reaching the edge of the pool, she pulled herself out and run towards the house, not caring about anything but reaching Stretch.

~*~

" -RED DOESN'T WANT TO HELP, THAT'S OK!" Papyrus's cheerful voice echoed towards Y/n as she rushed towards the voices echoing back at her through the ventilation system.

"YEA! WE'VE GOT THIS!" Blueberry sounded further away, like he was calling out from a different room, "Y/N, BREAKFAST!!"

Y/n was close enough that she could hear Stretch's laugh and voice, "blue, leave y/n alone. if she's hungry, she's got her phone and our numbers. i'm sure she know she could text you if she needs anything."

"BUT I'M WORRIED ABOUT Y/N! WHAT IF BITTY ILLNESS IS-"

"STRETCH!!!"

Y/n ran and jumped out of the dining room vent, landing on the table in one go. The entire skeleton family jumped, startled by her sudden appearance and scream.

"Y/N, THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE! BUT YOU SHOULDN-"

Ignoring Papyrus, she ran over to Stretch's spot, kicking over his milk into his lap.

Before Stretch could stand up in bewilderment, Y/n lunged for him, clinging to his hoodie. She alternated between swinging her fits and kicking him while she clung to him. "How could you?! I trusted you, damn it! I TRUSTED YOU!!"

Horrible realisation stilled her.

"I trusted you" she whispered in horror.

She dropped to the table, the fight leaving her. She barely noticed that Stretch had his hands out, stopping the others.

She knew better, and yet she had trusted again. She hadn't tried to trust them, fighting every emotion of sympathy and care that cropped up, that silenced her instincts for distrust. Yet Stretch's betrayal........ hurts.

She crumpled, staring at disbelief at her hands that shook.

"heh, not a big fan of soggy pizza, eh?"

Slowly, Y/n raised her head, to look at Red staring at her at the end of the table.

"...you?" she said slowly.

_'The Unknown caller.'_

"YOU!" Anger burned away all her doubt and feelings of betrayal. She NEVER trusted Red!

"You!" she marched towards him, solely focused on his grin, "you had NO RIGHT entering my room!"

"you did what?"

Red ignored Sans, "why not?"

"Why not!?" she shrieked, "This is my house!"

"you had no problem with entering my room the other day" Red replied with a low growl.

"Are you really going to compare what you did to me this morning to my harmless pranks!?!"

Red stood up, growling down at her, "harmless? you have no fuckin idea."

She yelled up at him, a finger pointing up at him, "No, you have no fucking idea! You attacked me at my most vulnerable!"

"and what makes what you did so different from what i did?!" Red was yelling back now.

She gestured at herself, "Look at me! What threat am I to you?! Is being bigger and outnumbering me not enough, you also had to go for the one place I feel safe in my own home!?!"

"BUT Y/N, AREN'T YOU GETTING MAD AT RED FOR DOING TO YOU WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING TO HIM?"

Flabbergasted, she looked away from Red to stare at Papyrus's confused expression in disbelief, "what I've been doing!?"

All she had been doing was messing with his door handle and drawing on his faces while he...slept.

That stopped her.

"......What I've been doing....?" she said slowly, looking back at Red.

Then she saw signs she should have never missed, things that she had seen every time she looked into a mirror long after the funerals: deep shadows under his eyes, closed posture and fidgeting hands. How his eyes darted around the room and his constant movement like he was never comfortable. Even his anger she had misinterpreted as being angry for being pranked, but now...

Red entire demeanour yesterday and today bespoke a person feeling violated and resentment. God, what if that even explained why he entered Dad's workshop, bringing her along to see him messing with his stuff? As some sort of personalised revenge?

Edge broke the uncomfortable silence, startling Y/n out of her thoughts, "I DON'T CONDONE MY BROTHERS ACTIONS; IT'S DESPICABLE AND PATHETICALLY WEAK-" Red scowled, "-BUT FROM WHERE WE'RE FROM, MANY MONSTERS WERE DUSTED IN THEIR SLEEP."

"Dusted?"

Everyone but Edge and Red looked away, "IT MEANS KILLED. MONSTERS WERE KILLED IN THEIR SLEEP... AND QUITE FREQUENTLY TOO." Edge continued, posing, "IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I ONLY NEED TO SLEEP FOR THREE HOURS EVERY DAY. WOULDN'T WANT TO ENCOURAGE PITIFUL ATTEMPTS ON MY LIFE AND HAVE TO WASTE MY TIME WITH SOME WRETCH."

Red growled, looking away.

Y/n felt a stab at pity for Edge and Red (unwontedly). What kind of place did they come from where you weren't even safe in your own bed? Did that explain this degree of a reaction from Red? HAD he felt safe, up until yesterday?

Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, "Okay, look. We need to agree to some boundaries" She looked around the room, making eye-contact with everyone, "All of us."

"such as?" Sans asked directly.

She took a long deep sigh, collecting herself before she continued, "I need to accept that you guys appear to have settled in for the long term and you're not planning to go anytime soon, correct?"

Everyone nodded, to varying degrees of enthusiasm.

She continued, "Then we need to agree to respect each other's personal space.  A sort of 'mutually assured destruction' thing where, if we continue pushing boundaries like this, we're going to keep escalating our conflicts until we're trying to hurt each other."

"I WOULD NEVER TRY TO HARM YOU Y/N!" Blueberry looked offended at the very idea while Papyrus nodded his agreement.

She smiled kindly at the sweet pair, before narrowing her eyes at Sans, "But I won't agree to anything unless I know what you have hidden in the basement."

She raised her hand, stopping his automatic response, "For all I know, you're doing something illegal or really dangerous down there. I need to know if you're turning my house into some sort of drug house or if we're all about to be blown up at any moment."

Stretch chuckled before he and everyone else looked to Sans, who appeared to be mulling over a few things. Finally, he met Y/n's eyes, "i'm trying to fix a machine. it's one-of-a-kind and highly advance experimental technology." He shrugged, "perfectly legal, and we've reinforced the basement to keep everyone safe up here. if fact, i'd say it makes for an excellent impromptu fallout shelter."

She held his stare for a while, before sighing, "You know that I need to see it, right?" She looked around at the room at large, "You should have asked, or at least explained the situation to me, why you need a lab in the first place. Instead-" she focused on Papyrus and Blueberry, sadden, "-you decided to go ahead anyway and keep quiet about it, even banning me in my own home."

"kid, i'm the one-"

"Don't try to cover for them, Sans. Everyone here knew and no one said anything to me."

_'Guess I know where I stand then. Below whatever the hell this thing is.'_

It wasn't a good feeling.

There was a long stretch of silence as everyone avoided everyone else' eyes, Papyrus and Blueberry in particular were in near tears and speechless for the first time she had known them.

Y/n backed away from Red, who slowly sat back down, and walked towards them, "Guys?"

They looked sadly back at her, "Y/N, I'M SORRY-" "I SHOULD HAVE-"

A small smile crept across her face as watched these two trying to apologize at the same time. Gently, she patted their gloved hands, startling them from their fumbled apologies.

"It'll be okay guys. We just need time...I need time."

She turned and looked at Stretch, "And I need to apologize to you Stretch. I shouldn't have assumed anything without asking you first." She looked away, frowning, "You know how I can get sometimes."

Stretch chuckled, looking down at his ruined hoodie, "i'll say." Then he looked up at her, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, "don't worry though, there's no use crying over spilled milk."

There was a pause.

"Pfffft, hahhhhah hah ha ha!"

Y/n clutched her sides, guffawing.

"Y/N! DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM" Blue huffed, half-heartedly

She nodded, trying to calm herself. Eventually, she was able to reduce her laughter to a huge smile, after Stretch winked at her of course, which she gladly returned.

Still smiling, she looked around the table, "Okay look, assuming that this machine, or whatever, is exactly what you guys are claiming it is, I have no problem with staying out of your rooms if you stay away from mine." She rubbed the back of her neck, "I'll knock on the vent's bars or something. I really shouldn't be barging in whenever I want anyway, not without your permission at least." "Guess I owe everyone an apology for that as well." She muttered. She met each skeleton's eye, ending with Red, "I'm sorry for entering your rooms without permission. I promise to do better from now on...if you promise to do the same for me."

Red stared back at her for a minute, before he grinned, looking over at Papyrus, "i'm in." Then he left, with his hands in his pockets and a secretive smile.

"In what?" she asked, suspicious.

Papyrus and Blueberry looked shifty, desperately trying to hide their guilty expressions and her stare.

Suddenly, Blueberry got an idea "AH! Y/N, YOU HAVEN'T HAD BREAKFAST YET!" He retched over and grabbed a plate stacked with different coloured pancakes. These colours weren't as vibrate as the coloured pancakes they made together, but he got an A+ for not burning down the kitchen....she hoped.

"SORRY THEY AREN'T THE DIFFERENT COLOURS WE HAD, BUT WE SEEM TO BE OUT OF FOOD DYE."

She laughed, "Oh, I'm sure I don't know why that might be the case- wait....then why are the pancakes different colours?"

Blueberry's smile grew, "I TRIED SOMETHING DIFFERENT! GO ON, TRY IT!"

Cautious, Y/n shrugged. After all, how badly can one mess up a simple recipe?

She ripped a piece off and popped it into her mouth.

There was a long moment of silence as every skeleton waited to see her reaction.

"Blue! What's have you done to these pancakes?!"

~*~

Claiming that bitties shouldn't be in wet clothes because it might shrink them further, Y/n rushed out with that excuse before Blueberry could offer a second pancake. After she told Sans she'd meet him at the basement door in 10 minutes, of course. For whatever reason, Blueberry and Papyrus seem to be focused on her health, asking her if she wanted more to eat. Although that might be a leftover effect from this morning's argument. Hopefully, whatever was the reason was didn’t persist; it was nice that they were concerned, but their tone could be a little condescending.

 _'And I thought yesterday was bad.'_ She thought with a sigh, climbing up to her room.

But it was all things that needed to be said, and she was glad that she had reached some sort of understanding with them. If they were all here for the long run, then certain rules and expectations had to be established, at some point anyway. Sure, things might be awkward now, but at least they were out in the open, and not hidden to fester into resentment.

She stilled at that thought, but quickly dropped it when she came out of the arctic's vent. Her room, hidden amongst all the boxes, looked fine from here. The ‘roof’, that kept her hidden from above hadn’t moved and none of the surrounding boxes looked like they had changed positions.

Glaring, knowing that despite its appearance, Red had known exactly where to look, she pushed past the cloth that acted as her door.

Inside, everything but the bed was exactly where she last saw it and nothing looked like it was missing. Even the bed hadn’t been moved that much, just off centre from where she knew it belonged, with the covers heaped on the floor.

_‘It could have been so much worse. At least there isn’t any damage.’_

Despite this small silver lining, it still meant she was faced with the decision to either accept that the skeletons were going to know where she lived or to move to another location.

“Damn it.” she muttered angrily.

_‘At least this happened before water day. That would have been an added pain.’_

Rolling her eyes, she quickly grabbed her last clean clothes, knowing that tomorrow had to be water day and washing clothes day as well.

Once she changed and grabbed her bag, she turned to her room one last time, considering; to move or stay?

~*~

Y/n approached the hall’s vent, to see Sans standing below her, looking uncomfortable.

“I’m here.”

Sans’s attention snapped to her, his grin tense, “sure kid.”

She jumped out, landing just in front of him.

He lowered himself, looking down at her, “so y/n, um, how do you want to do this?”

She shrugged, “I’ll follow you and you’ll show me why I need permission to enter my own basement.” There was a hardness to her tone and she didn’t care. She may have an understanding with the skeletons now, but Sans had been the one to say that to her yesterday. Whether or not he was just the family mouthpiece, she didn’t much care.

Sans sighed, “i meant, how do you plan to see everything down there?”

She considered her options, trying to think of an alternative to the obvious and only answer looming over her.

“kid, i- i promise you’re safe with me.” He laughed bitterly, “i hope my actions at least support that much.”

They did, when she considered them objectively. She nodded, reluctantly.

Placing his hand on the ground, Sans watched as Y/n moved slowly onto his hand, her tremors barely present as she moved more securely onto his palm. Standing, he turned to the door and opened it with one hand. A light was turned on (Y/n guess with magic because Sans’s hand didn’t move to the switch) and they descended the stairs. When they stood before the heavy metal door, they both looked at the number pad that was covered with a locked protective case.

Sans rubbed the back of his neck, while she scoffed, “What, you think that I could reach that?” She looked away, “Besides, we both know you’ll change the password as soon as we’re done here.”

“that wasn’t-“ Sans sighed, lifting her to his eye level, “i was thinking how i need both my hands, actually.”

“Oh”, she looked away, “Sorry.”

Sans chuckled, “it’s okay kid, i don’t blame you.” He looked back to the door, “and that’s why we’re here, to understand each other and come to some sort of an understanding.”

Shocked, she stared at him for a while, before smiling, “Hey, I could just ride on your shoulder?”

Sans looked surprised, a small smile pulling back on his perma-grin before it fell again. He chuckled sadly, “this doesn’t count” he muttered to himself.

“What doesn’t count?”

“kid, you sure about this?” he asked, looking intently at her.

“Of course. It's the only way you can properly show me around.”  She grinned, before she thought about what he might be trying to get at, “That is, if I can?”

Sans nodded, lifting her to his shoulder, where she nimble stepped off. They stood there quietly for a moment. It felt weird being this close to his face, to feel a slight heat coming from his skull. She found standing on him hard to do, so after a brief internal debate and a quick look at him, she sat instead, steadying herself on his shoulder using her hands.

“okay then.” Sans unlocked the case, entered a 9-digit code and the door swang open, surprising her with how easily it did so, considering how heavy it looked. “well, here we are.” He chuckled, “lab, sweet lab.”

The room was filled with the type of organised chaos that would have been at home in a mad scientist’s workshop. A huge, hulking thing stood in the centre of the room, covered completely from view, while the walls were lined with a series of workbenches and absolutely covered in tools. Some she recognised, others she knew were entirely unique, probably designed by the skeletons themselves. Boxes sat in odd places, likely still filled with things yet unpacked.

 _‘Oh look, there’s the evil supercomputer, to fit into the mad scientist theme._ ’, she thought with a smile.

On the far side of the room stood massive banks of humming, whirling computer servers. Monitors lined that side of the room, with a huge one at the centre. These monitors appeared to be mounted on robotic arms too. For what purpose, she didn’t know.

The thing that unnerved her was all the cameras. There were too many of them for this one room, each on a robotic arm with optical lenses. If the lights on them were anything to go by, they were currently off, but she didn’t like how many of them seemed to be pointing at the front entrance, at her. Was she going crazy or were more of them looking towards her than before?

_‘That just paranoia speaking. No lights, no power, so stop worrying about it and pay attention.’_

“How did you manage all of this?” she asked, when internally she wondered, _‘How did I not hear any of this?’_

Sans smiled, moving to open a random box. Inside, it was filled with scraps of foam, the really heavy, professional-duty type.

“Ah.” Now that she knew what she was meant to be listening for, she could hear how the air had a subtle, muffled quality to it. “But how did I not see you guys bring this stuff in?"

“stretch, red and i just teleported all this stuff in.” He shrugged, “it’s why you haven’t seen us in the last couple of days.”

That did explain it… might also explain why one of the moving vans was parked off to the side on the day they moved in; they weren't ready to unload all of this yet. Besides, what did distance mean to people who can teleport?

Sans closed the box, moving towards the huge thing in the middle of the room. He placed a hand on it, thoughtful. “this, this is the machine that I’m trying to fix. with stretch and red’s help too, of course.”

"What is it meant to do?" she asked, awed.

Sans didn't say anything for a while, before he turned to face her, "why were you living in this large house by yourself y/n?"

She looked away quickly.

"we all have secrets we keep to ourselves. secret reasons that can be painful to us and to others, if they were ever found out." He looked back at the machine, "sara told me that the last known record of the previous owners of this places dates back three years. that means, for three years, you were that owner. living here alone."

He sighed deeply, "i'll answer that question, if you must know." She could feel his hands clench through his hoodie "after all, it's my mistake that I'm really trying to fix with this machine."

She watched Sans passively, saw how driven he became when he talked about fixing past mistakes and painful secrets.

_'I can understand that... and I don't want to know, not like this.'_

She patted the side of Sans's head, pulling him from his thoughts, "Can you put me down there?" she pointed to the closest workbench.

After he raised and lowered his hand so that she could jump off him and stand on the workbench, she turned to stare up at him, hands on her hips.

"Do you swear, that whatever you're doing, is safe? That this won't hurt anyone?"

Sans flinched, looking back at the machine for a long time.

Eventually, he turned back, "i swear."

Y/n nodded, “ok then, keep your secrets.” She looked away, “I know a thing or two about painful pasts and not wanting people to pry.”

Sans returned her small smile, “thank you, y/n”

She nodded and they both fell into a thoughtful silence.

One day, these guys might share their secrets with her willingly….and she might be inclined to share as well. But today was too raw, all of this was too new…for both of them.

“when i said that it was important that you asked for permission-“, She looked up quickly to see Sans rubbing the back of his neck, “what I should have said was that this-“ he gestured to the machine behind him, “-is experimental work with highly concentrated magic components and advance scientific theories, and if you sneak in or touch something without anyone know about it…there’s no telling what might happen.”

She nodded, “And asking for permission?”

Sans looked away, “forget about that, okay? just understand that this place can be dangerous, especially if no one is expecting you.” He looked back at her, “dangerous for everyone here, not just you.”

“And asking me for permission, for all this being allowed here?”

Sans meet her stare, his grin pulling down at the corners, “don’t ask me that from me y/n, please.” He sighed, looking back at the machine, “this is really important. so important that i can’t risk asking and having you say no.”

“And you know what the worst part about all this is?”

He shook his head sadly. She sighed, “if you had explained what you just did to me before yesterday, I probably would have said yes.” She looked at the machine, “But you can’t risk me saying no, even now.”

It was an uncomfortable truth.

“so, have you seen enough?” Sans asked, awkwardly.

She smiled, “Oh I doubt that. But I have seen enough to know you’re not lying to me, and I can trust that you’re not doing anything illegal or dangerous.” She laughed, “Well, nothing deliberately dangerous anyway.”

Sans chuckled, “gotta give ya that kid.” He offered his hand, “ready to go back?”

She was, so she nodded, hopping back on to his offered hand. She expected him to move her to his shoulder, but he kept her in his hand, watching her.

Looking away from his stare, she looked back at the machine, thinking about all that Sans had shared with her, both with his words and his silence.

“Sans?”

He stopped, curious again.

Still looking at the machine, she said quietly, "I can understand wanting to fix a past mistake, and wanting to do so without anyone knowing what you're mistake was.” She looked at him, serious, “I think you should ask me for permission now.”

She waited.

“y/n, can i use the basement as my laboratory?"

She waited longer, staring intently at him.

“Yes.”

~*~

"Y/N! SANS!"

They stared at Papyrus on the floor, who had fallen backwards the moment they had opened the basement door.

"er, bro, you okay?"

Papyrus looked away from Y/n's concerned look to jump up, with a bold laugh.

"BUT OF COURSE! I WAS MERELY, UM, CHECKING TO SEE IF YOU WERE OKAY!"

They stood there, staring at his pointing finger.

"So, um-" she started.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" he asked in a loud, slow voice, winking even more slowly at Sans.

Sans smiled, "sure am bro." He nodded his head towards Y/n, "we've just had a long discussion and i think we better understand each other now.”

She nodded in agreement.

“IS SHE FEELING OKAY? SHE’S NOT TOO HOT OR TOO COLD IS SHE? OH, I WISH HUMAN BODIES COULD JUST DECIDE IF THEY WANTED TO BE HOT OR COLD ALREADY!”

Sans laughed while all she could do was stare at Papyrus in absolute confusion.

She finally asked, “what’s going on? Why are you so concerned about my health all a sudden?”

“YOUR TEXT MESSAGE TO BLUE THIS MORNING. HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN?” Before she could say anything, Papyrus brought both of his hands up to his face, a look of dread coming over him, “OH SANS! HER MEMORY IS ALREADY FAILING HER!” He pulled out his phone, dialling a number, “I’M GOING TO CALL ALPHYS RIGHT NOW! SHE’LL KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

Sans placed a hand over Papyrus screen, drawing his attention to him, “bro, relax. she’s fine, look.”

Sans lifted her up to Papyrus for a closer inspection, while Y/n, still thoroughly confused, tried to give her best’ I’m not sick’ look.

“HMMM, WELL, SHE DOES APPEAR TO BE OKAY” He stood up, “WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER THOUGH.” He cupped his hands, calling out, “BLUEBERRY!!”

Blueberry came rushing down, “WHAT IS -?" Then he spotted her, "- IS THAT Y/N?”

He leapt over the stair’s railings, landing right next to Papyrus.

Y/n gasped, “Blue! Are you-“

Blueberry grabbed Sans's hand holding her, pulling it closer to him for an inspection. Sans made a “what the-?” complaint as he was dragged forward.

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH Y/N?!” He pulled out his phone, “I’M GOING TO CALL UNDYNE RIGHT NOW! SHE’LL KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

“Guys, stop!”

Blueberry froze in mid-dial, suddenly sad for some reason, while Papyrus looked away from his phone, a website of home remedies pulled up on his screen. Y/n was in a state of shell shock, completely at a loss to what she could have done that gave any indications that she was sick.

Sans took a deep breath, before he looked over at Y/n, “she isn’t sick guys. right y/n?”

“Right” she waved a hand at the two eccentric skeletons, “Why do you think I’m sick?”

Blueberry’s eyes watered, “HER POOR MEMORY” he whispered. Papyrus nodded solemnly.

“Please just answer the question” she sighed.

Blueberry played around with his screen, eventually showing her a text message stream.

 **Little Miss:** Hey Blue, I’m not feeling so well this morning and I won’t be joining you for our cooking lesson this morning.

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** OH NO! ARE YOU OKAY? SHOULD I CALL FOR A DOCTOR?

 **Little Miss:** No, I’ll be fine.

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** ARE YOU SURE? I COULD ALWAYS CARRY YOU HERE!

 **Little Miss:** I said that I’m fine. Just need to rest. Don’t text me anymore, cause I need the sleep.

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** OF COURSE! YOU GO AND GET PLENTY OF SLEEP. I’LL CALL YOU WHEN BREAKFAST IS DONE, OKAY?

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** IS THAT OKAY?

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** I’M GOING TO ASSUME YOU’RE SLEEPING

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** ARE YOU SLEEPING?

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** YOU'RE PROBABLY SLEEPING

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** SORRY ABOUT ALL MY TEXTS. I HOPE THEY’RE NOT KEEPING YOU AWAKE

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** OKAY, I’M GOING TO STOP NOW

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** I FORGOT TO TELL YOU WE’RE HAVING PANCAKES

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** HOPE THAT’S OKAY

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** YOU KNOW BECAUSE YOU’RE SICK

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** PAPS SAYS IT SHOULD BE FINE

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** AND TO STOP TEXTING YOU

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** OKAY, STOPPING NOW.

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW I’M STARTING TO COOK NOW. I SURE WISH YOU WERE HERE THOUGH.

 **THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY:** OH NO! MY PHONE IS GETTING TAKEN AWAY FRO

She looked up, now angry again, “Blue, I didn’t send any of those messages. I was in the middle of the pool this morning. This has to be Red.”

“I WAS WONDERING WHY YOU WERE DRIPPING! GOOGLE SAID IT WAS BECAUSE HUMANS SWEAT WHEN THEY GET SICK.”

“Not that much!”

She sighed looking between the two concerned skeletons, “Look, I’m fine, okay?”

Neither one of them looked convinced, casting disbelieving glances at each other, like she couldn't see them right in front of her!

“come on bro, let's play a few rounds while we wait for lunch and everyone else to finish setting up their rooms?” Stretch came down, a lollipop stick between his teeth.

Blueberry huffed, “IT’S JUST SANS THAT NEEDS TO DO HIS ROOM. EVERYONE ELSE IS DONE ALREADY.”

“YES!” Papyrus rounded on Sans, “WE NEED TO BE EXTRA FAST IF WE HOPE TO BE FINISHED IN TIME FOR LUNCH TODAY.”

Sans smiled, “with you there? we’ll be done in no time.”

Papyrus beamed, “I’M GOING TO GET STARTED RIGHT NOW” he turned and bolted for the stairs.

“we’ll see you for lunch y/n” Stretch said, dragging his brother out of the room with him.

“Y/N! TEXT ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING…ACTUALLY, TEXT ‘I AM NOT RED’ FIRST, THEN TEXT ME!”

Once they were gone, Sans and Y/n shared a sigh.

“want me to talk to red?"

She looked up to see Sans looking quite seriously at her.

She shook her head, “No, I really need to talk him myself.” She narrowed her glare; “We’ve got a few things to sort out.”

_‘If I can handle Edge, talking to Red should be easy enough.’_

Sans nodded, lifting her to the vent with his magic. Once she was safely in the vent he asked, “would you like to have my number then?” She looked at him, ready to say no, not after this morning anyway, but he continued, “i still owe you and if you ever need my help with anything, you can just give me a call.”

It was a generous offer, and she did have to remind herself that is was only Red that had abused having her number so far.

 _‘Besides, if I leave my phone on silent, it shouldn’t be an issue..right?’_ She thought back to the lab, back to the supercomputers. Anyone capable of building that probably had no trouble tracking a phone signal.

_‘Anyone capable of building that probably has about a hundred ways of tracking me, not to mention that they are all magical with who knows what capabilities.’_

Resigned, she relented and nodded. Sans pushed up his phone to her and she quickly added her details to it. She returned his phone, a small smile on his face as he looked over her details. She turned to leave and confront Red, somewhere above her.

"and y/n?" She turned to look back at Sans, "i'm sorry for banning you and not asking about the lab first."

She nodded, "It would have been nice if we had trusted each other from the beginning-"

"but we didn't know that we could " Sans finished for her.

She smiled, "Hindsight is always 20/20"

Sans returned her small smile.

She winked at him, cocking her finger, "See ya around Boner."

Sans spluttered, quickly vanishing from the spot, but not before she saw the blue across his cheeks

 _'I could get used to making skeletons blush.'_ she grinned.

~*~

After having an internal debate over the value of pursuing this, Y/n found herself looking at the closed bars leading to Red’s room. With a sigh, she knocked on them, and waited.

And waited.

She knocked again

“if I told you to leave, would ya?”

“I would, but I’d just come back later.”

There was a chuckle, “come on in then, if yer must.”

Y/n pushed open the bars and slide past.

Red was laying on his bed, playing around with his phone. He didn’t pay attention to her, not even as she climbed up his desk.

“Okay, we need to talk.”

Red chuckled, “what are we, dating?”

She folded her arms, “You went too far today and yesterday for payback over some simple pranks.”

Red closed his phone, pushing himself up, “i could give two fucks over yer petty pranks.” He shrugged, “funny is funny, and I can appreciate a good laugh.”

“Then what the hell was yesterday and this morning about?”

“that was about makin one thing clear.” He made his way off the bed, leaning down and lowering his face inches from hers, “stay the hell away from my personal space and keep yer bitty ass out of my things.” He narrowed his gaze, “same goes for edge too.”

Suddenly, Blueberry burst into the room, “RED! WE’RE HAVING LEFTOVERS FOR LUNCH AND- OH! Y/N’S HERE TOO!” He beamed, “GREAT! Y/N, WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CARRY YOU DOWN FOR LUNCH?”

He either did notice the tense atmosphere or ignored it. Just behind him, she saw Papyrus and Sans walking past, discussion a ban on trash tornados or something.

“Actually Blue, I’m going to skip lunch today.” She looked over at Red with a glare.

“BUT Y/N! YOU SHOULD NEVER-“

“Blueberry!” That stopped him, “I said no. Thank you for asking.”

Blueberry stood there in absolute shook, before his face fell. “OKAY Y/N, I’M SORRY I ASKED” he said in a low voice

“That’s not-“ she growled in frustration, “I’m sorry for snapping, okay Blue?”

He nodded, entirely unconvinced, before he closed the door quietly behind him.

“harsh.”

She rounded on Red, “You-“

He vanished.

 _‘No, he teleported.’_ she corrected herself, remembering yesterday.

“Asshole!” She yelled into an empty room.

Well, if he thought he could get out of talking to her just because he wasn’t here, then he had another thing coming! She was going to sit here till he came back, even if she had to wait all day!

With a huff, she sat down, arms crossed. Idly, she looked around the room, noting the changes since she last saw it packed with boxes.

The room, like Edge’s, was fairly devoid of personal items. A simple bookshelf with a few books sat on the opposite side of the room, although she had trouble reading the titles from here. From what she could read, most of them were either joke books or about astronomy. His bedside table still had that clock of his and the room smelled faintly of smoke, which surprised her as she had only seen Stretch smoke so far. There hung a leash at the back of his door, which she had trouble keeping her eyes off. She had always thought that Red’s collar was just an edgy necklace, not a possible functioning one! Ripping her eyes from it, she looked instead at where she sat. The desk itself had another high-end laptop and little else. Just the computer, some stationery and Red’s phone.

_‘Red’s phone?’_

Curious, she approached it. She automatically stretched out an arm towards it, before she stopped herself. She had just promised to respect their personal space, and although she could debate just how deserving Red was of that respect (particularly after she just found out he had touched her phone), she kept her promises. So, until Red invaded her space again, she’d stay out of his.

Didn’t stop her from kicking it though, as she turned to sit back down.

“i see that you do have some self-control.”

Startled, Y/n jumped violently, a small squeak escaping her as she spun around to see Red standing off to the side of his desk.

He laughed at her startled expression, her chest heaving as her heart tried to regain its normal rhythm, “what? don’t get why yer so surprised. this is my room after all.”

He grabbed his phone before he sat down at on his bed, and she could see that he had brought along several slices of pizza on a plate. She recognised it as the pizza she had last night.

“Yea!” she retorted angrily, “Which you left me here to go and feed yourself!”

He shrugged, “you may not want lunch, but doesn’t mean i’m not hungry.”

He chomped onto a slice, hypnotising Y/n as she watched how his sharp teeth sliced easily through all the layers, her mind briefly wondering just how he swallowed without a tongue or a neck.

“what?”

Shaking herself out of her daze, she looked up to see him smugly grinning at her, like he could tell exactly what she had been thinking. Blushing, she looked away.

Ignoring her flushed cheeks, she asked, “You really expect me to believe that today and yesterday had nothing to with revenge? That is was all because I entered your room?”

Red shrugged, food still in his mouth, “ya can believe what you want.”

“So does that mean if I stay out of your room, you’ll stay out of mine?”

Red put aside the plate, leaving a stare at her, “nothin I say or promise will make you believe me. Know how I know that? Cause it goes the exact same for me.”

They started at each other for a long time.

“Stay out of my room and my dad’s workshop.” She stated simply.

Red started, “yer dad’s workshop?”

She narrowed her eyes, “You know, that place you were messing with me yesterday? Isn’t that why you took me there? To get a rise out of me by forcing me to watch you playing with things my dead parent valued in life?”

“i didn’t know about yer dead father!” he growled at her.

“And I didn’t know that monsters constantly got killed in their sleep from where you’re from!” She looked away, “Otherwise I would never have pranked you while you slept. I’m not completely heartless you know.”

She sighed, raising her hands to stop his response, “Look, this isn’t why I came here. We’ve both done things to each other that, frankly, crossed the line. What I’m here for is to make sure that, if we’re forced to live here together, we aren’t at each other's throats." When Red didn’t respond, she added, “For both our sakes.”

Red laughed, “so what yer askin for is a truce?”

“Exactly” She smiled, “A sort of do-over, if we can?” She extended a hand, "My name is Y/n, and I can be a little shit to people who annoy me."

He stared at her for a long time, before he raised himself off his bed and sat down at the desk, placing the now empty plate off to the side. He raised a sharp pinkie finger at her, “the name's red, and i can be a bit of a dick at times.”

She shook the offered pinkie with a small smile, “Hi Red, it's nice to meet you under better circumstances and-” she looked seriously at him, “-I promise to stay out of your room if you stay away from mine.”

He nodded, then grinned, “well, it’s a start.”

“RED! YOU BETTER NOT BE NAPPING IN THERE!”

The door banged open, with Edge towering in the doorway. He briefly met Y/n’s eyes, before he focused on Red, “YOU MAY HAVE SKIPPED LUNCH, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN SKIP HELPING WITH THE BACKYARD!”

“o-of course not boss. wouldn’t dream of it!” Y/n struggled to keep her face expressionless, even as a small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

Edge glowered at the pair, before he turned on his heel and left briskly.

Red rubbed the back of his head, “guess I need to go”, he looked over at Y/n, “want me to carry ya downstairs? save ya the trip?”

She looked away, “No. we may have an understanding and our truce, but you're still the monster that trapped me multiple times now.” She met his eyes, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust you enough to carry me, not without fearing that you’re going to trap me again.”

“right” He looked away quickly, but not before she saw a brief flash of hurt and regret passing over his features. He moved towards his bedroom door, stopping to mumble, “see ya outside then” before he closed the door behind him.

~*~

Skipping lunch normally wasn’t that big of a deal for her, but after this morning’s ‘breakfast’, it was starting to wear on her. However, she had offered Dad’s tool and equipment, and after yesterday with Red, she needed to be there watching them.

Gliding to the workshop, she saw that the skeletons had been busy while she had been talking to Sans and Red. The backyard had plenty of new materials laying in designated spots. She could only guess that they had come from the moving vans, which Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge had taken to go shopping with yesterday.

Actually, the three skeletons in question were standing outside in the yard, by the workshop while their brother lounged on the paddock. Landing on the workshop's roof, Y/n considered what they might do if she said she had changed her mind about letting them borrow equipment.

_‘They’d probably accept it and go waste money by buying new stuff, all the while they told me they understood while looking sad that I didn’t trust them.’_

Grimacing at that perspective, she called out, “Over here guys!”

All the skeletons turned to watch her jumping from the roof to a convent window ledge beneath her. Sans, Stretch and (after some hesitation) Red moved away from the paddock to stand with their brothers by the workshop and Y/n.

“Y/N! ARE YOU OKAY?”

She started to respond, till she noticed that only Papyrus had asked. Looking over at Blueberry, she saw that he still looked downtrodden.

“I’m fine Papyrus.” she mumbled, looking away from Blueberry's sad expression to Papyrus's bright one. She pushed open the window, “Come on in guys.”, before she walked through to the other side.

Once they were all inside, she watched them looking around in curiosity, touching and lifting equipment and tools, judging their worth and application. Blueberry even lighted up as he looked at the uncovered, half-completed chopper. She took a deep breath, _‘They’re just things, they’re just tools.’_

With a hand gesture, she showed them where different equipment, tools and utilities were, inviting them to take what they needed on the condition that, “They be looked after and returned safely.”

They agreed, taking multiple items with them as they left. And still, Blueberry wouldn’t meet her eye.

_‘Well, I’m not having that, not today!’_

“Blueberry!” she called to him as he passed her outside on the window ledge, eyes on the ground.

He flinched, looking back at her, “Y-YES?”

Her heart and face fell. She really could do with a pep-up, especially today, and he thought she was mad at him? Never!

…okay, but never for long.

“Blueberry, I’m sorry okay!” she blurted out.

She rubbed her arm, “I’ve just had a really intense morning, and I know that isn’t an excuse, but I didn’t mean to snap at you, and-” She took a deep breath, “I’m just sorry”, she finished lamely.

“YOU’RE NOT MAD AT ME?” he asked in disbelief.

“No of course not. I'm madder at myself than you.”

Next thing she knew, she had been picked up and smooshed to the side of a cheekbone, the outside yard spinning around in a blur of colours.

“YOU’RE NOT MAD AT ME! Y/N’S NOT MAD AT ME!"

Stretch called out from the distance, “told you bro!”

He stopped spinning her, holding her up to the sun with both hands. Not that she recognised any of this, what with the whole world still spinning.

“Y/N! I’M SO SORRY! I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOU!  BUT I WAS WORRIED THAT YOU HADN’T EATEN MUCH AT BREAKFAST, AND YOU WERE SKIPPING LUNCH AND PAPYRUS SAID NOT TO WORRY, BUT I DID AND THEN YOU WERE MAD AT ME AND-“

“Blue! It’s okay, I get it” she patted his hands, smiling down at the beaming skeleton.

He gently placed her back on the window ledge, still beaming, “ARE YOU FEELING OKAY? DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR LUNCH YET?”

She sighed, smiling, “Blue, there’s nothing wrong with me, okay? It was just a text that Red sent from my phone, remember? And I’m good until dinner.”

“BUT Y/N! YOU SHOULD REALLY EAT SOMETHING!”

“How about I promise to have a big meal tonight, okay?” She shrugged, “Besides, tomorrow should be back to normal and we can go back to our cooking lessons” ‘back to edible breakfast’ she grinned. Blueberry may be one of the sweetest people on the planet, but nothing could make those horrible pancakes tolerable!

Blueberry gasped, “THAT’S RIGHT!” He grinned, “OKAY Y/N, I’M GOING TO HOLD YOU TO THAT PROMISE.” He waggled a finger at her, “AND YOU BETTER EAT EVERYTHING ON YOUR PLATE. PROMISE?”

She smiled gently, “Promise.”

Blueberry beamed once again, “GOOD THEN.” He brightened, “WANNA COME WITH ME? YOU CAN RIDE ON MY SHOULDER?”

She laughed. Knowing how energetic he was just walking, she was sure that sitting on Blueberry this happy wouldn’t be unlike trying to sit on a bucking bull ride. Besides, she like sitting here, watching everyone. So she declined.

He looked pessimistic, but brightened again quickly, “IF YOU GET BORED, JUST CALL OUT, OKAY?”

She nodded, and he left with a final wave goodbye.

“PATHETIC.”

She turned to see Edge scowling.

When he saw that she was watching him, he scoffed, “YOU HAVE LITTLE TO NO SELF RESPECT, LETTING HIM AND OTHERS TREAT YOU LIKE SOME SORT OF WEAK PET.”

He turned to leave.

“Wait a minute!”

He cast a look back at her over his shoulder. She crossed her arms, “They do not treat me like a pet!”

Edge laughed, turning to face her fully, “ARE YOU NOT CAPABLE OF LOOKING AFTER YOUR OWN HEALTH?”

“Of course I am!”

“DID YOU ASK THE OTHERS TO LOOK AFTER YOU, TO MAKE SURE YOU GOT YOUR MEALS, LIKE A GOOD PET?”

“No”, she said slowly.

With a final smirk, his point made, he turned to leave.

“Hey wait!” She jumped off the ledge, marching towards him. He stood there, smirking still, waiting for her to approach him. “How is them treating me like a pet any worse than you treating me like vermin?”

“VERMIN!” he growled, “NO OPPONENT WORTHY OF THE TERRIBLE PA-ER EDGE IS MERE VERMIN!” He looked genuinely offended at that claim.

She shrugged, “Vermin or pet, I’ll go with the safer option and with the people who treat me nicer.”

Edge laughed, “IF ALL YOU WANT IS ‘NICER’, THEN GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE! LET THEM TREAT YOU LIKE A WELL PAMPERED PET.” He lowered himself to the ground, looming over her, “IF YOU WANT TO BE TREATED AS SOMEONE WORTHY OF RESPECT, AS AN EQUAL, COME FIND ME.”

With that, he rose and left, without so much as a backwards glance.

Y/n stared after him, watching him make his way towards the area she knew would eventually be the duelling area.

_‘Anyone else would have offered to carry me. I wouldn’t have needed to ask.’_

With that thought, she moved to follow him.

It took her a long time, and by the time she managed it, he was well into building a sturdy dummy, with a base hole already dug deep into the ground. As he lifted and moved to place a massive log into the hole, Y/n climbed up the dummy’s body materials that lay just off the side.

“You’ve never respected me or treated me like an equal.”

“IF YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE FIRST MET, THEN OF COURSE NOT.”

He dropped the heavy log into the hole, turning to her while he dusted his gloves. He smiled down at her, “RESPECT MUST BE EARNED, AND NOT EVERYONE IS CAPABLE OF BEING MY EQUAL.”

She crossed her arms, “So what’s different now.”

He moved his hands to his hips, “NOW I LISTEN TO WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AND SUFFER THROUGH ASININE CONVERSATIONS OVER THINGS THAT SHOULD BE PAINFULLY OBVIOUS. NOT UNLIKE THIS ONE.”

“More like that's just common courtesy, which you appear to suck at.”

“NO.” He leaned in closer to her, “COMMON COURTESY IS WHAT YOU DO TO STRANGERS, WHEN YOU REALLY DON’T CARE WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY, BUT WANT TO CREATE THE ILLUSION THAT YOU DO. TREATING YOU WITH RESPECT, AS AN EQUAL, MEANS I’LL TELL YOU MY HONEST OPINION, CALL YOU OUT WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING IDIOTIC AND LEAVE YOU TO LOOK AFTER YOUR PITIFUL SELF...UNLIKE SOME.”

He waved a dismissal hand at her as he went off to fetch a shovel, “IF I DIDN’T SEE YOU AS AN EQUALLY, AS A WORTHY OPPONENT, THEN WHY WOULD I BOTHER WASTING MY TIME POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT THE OTHERS TREAT YOU LIKE YOU ARE INCAPABLE?”

He…he actually had a point. The massive jack waggon actually had a valid point. And sure, there were about a hundred different ways he could have said it (each guaranteed to be politer than his speech just then), but the fact was, if he didn’t see her as someone worthy of talking to, he wouldn’t bother. The little she knew about him proved that.

With a smirk, she jumped off the dummy’s body, making her way to the back of Edge’s boots as he shoved the dirt into the hole. She made it halfway up his back before he noticed her.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Pulling herself up, she sat on his shoulder, chuckling at his expression (which was priceless), “Edge, you know that there’s a big difference between being treated as a pet and equity, right?"

She gestured at herself on his shoulder, “I call this levelling the playing field, my worthy opponent.”

She grinned back at his frozen expression for a long time, till someone coughed in the distance. With a violent jerk, Edge twisted his head around, both of them becoming aware that the rest of the household was staring at them. Edge’s cheeks turned bright red, casting a glow on her skin.

“Edge, are you-?“

He brought up his hand to her, “GET OFF ME!”

She jumped quickly onto his hand, not realising straight away that she was oddly okay with doing so. All she could focus on was Edge and how he wouldn’t look at her or the other skeletons, who were still staring.

Thinking about it more, she realised that she had just climbed up his shoulder without permission, and after all the drama this morning too. How was she any better now?

“Edge, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have climbed up without asking you first.”

He looked sharply at her, “THAT’S NOT-“ he stopped himself, looking away with a muttered curse.

“No, I get it. I’ll just go then. Again, I’m sorry.” She turned and prepared to jump off.

“WAIT!”

She turned to see his other hand raised, a single claw out. Almost like he was going to stroke her hair or something.

“Edge? She asked confused and worried.

He clenched his hand, looking away, now with a brighter glow covering his cheeks than before. With a brisk stride, he moved towards the dummy, dumping her back onto its body. Before anyone could say anything else, he was striding away, yelling to no one in particular “I’M GOING TO GO WORK ON THE GARAGE, NO ONE DISTURB ME!”

Then he rounded the house and was gone.

_‘What was that all about?’_

She looked to see all the skeletons looking at her with varying degrees of disappointment.

"Look, I'm sorry! I promise I won't climb up without permission again!" she called out. Their expressions didn't exactly lighten up, many of them only returned a strained smile before returning back to their own projects.

Well, if they were going to be like that, then she was going to go away and do something else then! She cast her eyes to the old apple tree by the pond. A juice apple would make for a great treat, plus she could watch them from the branches.

With that plan, she made her way to the tree, ignoring the few glances thrown her way when the skeletons thought she wouldn't notice.

~*~

Looking up at the tree, she realised that, while her younger, taller self had no trouble climbing it, she was going to need tools.

With a huff, she pulled off her bag and dug around, looking for her second pin.

*Thlip*

“Ommpff! What the…?”

A weird, slimy pink thing had hit her back, encasing her sides and arms. Whatever it was, it was tough and rubbery to the skin, sort of like a tong-

With a gut-wrenching sensation, Y/n flew backwards like she had just been attached to a stretched-out bungee-cord.  Her head and the back of her legs collided hard with something that was also covered in slime while the rest of her body was dragged into yawning hole, the thing at her back trying to pull in the rest of her.

_‘A mouth! I’m being eaten!!'_

“HELP!!!” She screamed.

The mouth opened a fraction wider and Y/n’s head slipped past the top jaw, forcing Y/n to stare, head first down the creature's throat. Her legs remained hooked on the bottom jaw, but they too were starting to slip and slide over the slime. Something webbed was now touching her legs, trying to push the rest of her in.

She struggled desperately, flexing what she could with her arms, still retained by the tongue, and her body, but all she managed to do was cause her legs to slip further in faster, hastening her demise. Even her pin was beyond her reach now!

_‘I’m going to die to a frog.’_

Not the way she thought she would go, the odd thought brought a smile to her face as a calm settled over her.

 _‘Wonder who will bring the flowers to my funeral?’_ she thought mildly. She hoped they would use a good quality shoe box.

Light suddenly surrounded her as a cool air rushed in. With a gasp, she took a breath of fresh air as the frog around her moved violently against something. Next thing she knew, she lay on a hard, bony surface, an incompressible voice speaking somewhere about her. She felt something else rub at her face and nudging her sides in quick sessions. Annoyed by the sensation, she tried to wave off whatever it was. The voice above her chuckled in relief, the laughter shaking the surface she was on, bringing clarity as she raised herself to finally take in her surroundings.

She was still outside, by the pond area. She lay on a skeleton’s hand and looked from the orange sleeve to the worried, bony face of Stretch above her. Focusing on that, she finally managed to understand what he was saying.

“-come on honey, you’ve got to say something!”

“Like what?” she asked, confused.

He laughed in relief, he shoulders noticeable sagging. He grinned down at her, “ah, there you are. you had me _slime_ what concerned.”

Still dazed, she pointed to his glowing eye, “Why is your eye glowing?”

Clearly concerned and confused, he pointed somewhere off to the side. Following his finger, she saw a struggling frog, suspended in an orange glow.

Absently minded, she exclaimed "Hey, leave Big Boy alone!”

Stretch chuckled, staring at her in disbelief, “big boy?”

She shrugged, “Well, it’s better than another b-word I'd like to call him.”

Looking to her clothes and skin, she noticed she was coated from head to knees in slime. ‘ _It’s not slime, it’s mucus.’_ , she thought with a smile as she attempted to wipe it from her eyes and face.

“you don’t want me to get rid of it?”

“What would be the point?” she asked, still cleaning herself. “It’s not like something else won't replace him, and I can't exactly get mad at an animal doing what comes naturally to it. That would be like getting mad at the rain for making the ground wet.” She shrugged, looking back up at him, “It’s what rain does.”

She didn’t get why he looked so shocked to hear her say that. She looked back at the still struggling frog. No, she may not like frogs right now, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hurt it on purpose.

“Let him go Stretch.”

Stretch shrugged, smiling, “if you’re sure.”

The frog was lowered and dropped as the orange glow dissipated. It quickly jumped into a bush, and was gone from both their sights.

“hey, are you okay?” Stretch asked, concerned.

She looked up at him in confusion, “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“you’re crying.”

Rising a hand, she felt silent tears sliding on her cheeks. Confused, her eyes quickly filled up with even more tears as her body started to shake.

She laughed in a shaky voice, “I didn’t know why I’m was crying! I feel fine!” And she did, which was weird! Where was this coming from?

Stretch looked sadly down at her, “you’re in shock.”

“But I feel just fine!”

He sighed, “yea, that would be the shock.”

He gently lowered her into one of his hoodie pockets, tipping her in while ignoring her insistence that she was fine. However, once she was inside and encased in a warm darkness, her shaking increased as a weird moaning noise came from her chest. It didn't take long for her to start balling her eyes out, the near-death experience being the straw that broke the camel's back. So distracted by her tears and the flood of overwhelming emotions, she didn't notice a gentle patting on her back through the hoodie.

This day had been nothing but one thing after another, and her subconscious had had enough.

~*~

Y/n lost track of how long she was curled up in Stretch's pocket or when she stopped noticing Stretch's pats. All she knew was that the tears had stopped ages ago, at some point she had fallen asleep and she felt all the better for it.

"feeling better?"

She also didn't know how Stretch knew she was awake, but this skeleton always seemed to know just the right amount of information.

_'Like with the frog, or the day he let me escape Edge.'_

"Don't tell anyone, please" she whispered.

"why?"

She sighed deeply, "Blue's worried enough, and I don't want to have to explain how I'm okay now. I don't think he'd believe me."

Stretch shrugged, the hoodie around her moving with the motion, "sure."

She lay back into her comfortable napping position, her mind wandering back to the frog.

"I need to get my bag" she groaned. And it was all the way back over by the tree...

Something entered the other side of the hoodie pocket, nudging her feet. Twisting around, she saw it was just her tie-dyed bag, and it looked like it had been packed.

She chuckled. Of course he would have it. He was trying to be insanely perfect, wasn't he?

"Thanks."

Stretch's only response was to chuckle quietly to himself.

They fell back into a comfortable silence, watching the other skeletons pack away for the day.

“red’s hanging around your workshop” Stretch said idly.

“He is!?”

Y/n pocked her head out the pocket, looking out to see that, yes, Red was standing at the front and looking shifty.

“Can you ask him what he’s doing Stretch?” she asked. She wanted to believe this wasn’t anything bad, but even if it was harmless, this was too soon for him to be back there, not after what they had been through in the last 24 hours.

“sure thing fun size.”

He moved towards Red, with Y/n watching through the hoodie. Although the hoodie was by no means transparent, it was thin enough that she could see basic shapes and outlines of the world outside.

“hey red, what are you up too?”

Red jumped, looking quickly at Stretch. When he saw who it was, he scoffed, crossing his arms, “what’s it to'ya and why are yer hands behind your back?”

Stretch shrugged and put both hands into his pockets, one hand sliding under her as she struggled to remain still and silent. She could feel the blush on her cheeks, even as she tried to think about why Stretch had no choice but to put his hands in with her. She had never seen him without both hands in his pockets, of course it would be suspicious if he refused to do so now!

“better?” Stretch asked, a smile in his voice.

Red scoffed, “whatever.”

“ready to share what you’re doing around here?”

Red looked away and it seemed like he wouldn’t answer. Eventually though, he did reply, “i’m making sure all the little shit’s stuff is put away properly, okay?”

“why?” Stretch asked, clearly surprised and not the only one.

“i may have done somethin i regret and i’m tryin to fix it, okay!” he turned to growl at Stretch, “what’s it to you anyway? why are ya botherin me?”

Stretch shrugged, “eh, nothing really. just curious.” He turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “see ya red”.

Red was still uttering curse under his breath as they left.

After Stretch had walked a distance away and was much closer to the house, he pulled her from out his pocket, looking at her inquisitively, “all good?"

She nodded slowly, “Yea, I think so.” She smiled up at Stretch, “Thank you for doing that by the way.”

Stretch shrugged, “no problem.” Then he grinned, "now, according to my brother's instructions, i'm to escort you to dinner if i see you."

She covered her eyes with a sly grin, "If I can't see you, you can't see me."

He chuckled and Y/n saw the orange glow of his blush through her fingers. Lowering her hands, she saw Stretch look away with a hand covering his mouth, still blushing. She grinned up at him, unsure what she had done to make him blush exactly.

With one of his fingers, he moved his hand away from his mouth to give her a gently noogie. She pushed him off with an indigent whine "quite it."

"you know, i don't have to see you. if you want to skip dinner?"

She sighed, "And never hear the end of it from Blue? Besides, I did sort of promised, and I could really go for a meal."

He nodded, and moved into the house. Once they were in the living room, he made his way over to the couch and dropped himself into one on the armrests. Y/n released her death grip on his hand, quite sure that he had forgotten her existence or otherwise he hadn't considered what a drop like that would do to her balanced on his palm.

"I'm going to wash up before dinner." _'And get rid of my tears and mucus, using the last of my water in the process.'_

She jumped off his hand and made her way to the ground vent. When she reached it, she turned back to Stretch, "Tell Blue to let me know when dinner's ready."

Stretch laughed, "like he wasn't going to do that."

~*~

Y/n sat at the dinner table, a regular sized plate lay before her, heaped with a bit of everything of what remained of the fast-food leftovers. If she had to guess, it all probably weighed twice her body weight!

She looked over incredulous at Blueberry sitting at her left, "You expect me to eat all this?"

He nodded, before he waggled his finger at her, "YOU HAVEN'T EATEN ALL DAY AND YOU PROMISED, REMEMBER?"

"But! Come on Blue! If you stacked all of it, it'd be taller than me!"

"BUT IT'S NOT STACKED, SO THAT MAKES IT OKAY!"

She glared at Papyrus on her right, ignoring the chuckles of Sans, Stretch and Red right across her. Even Edge was smiling smugly at her, from his high and mighty position at the head of the table.

Seeing that there was no way she was going to get out of it, and after vowing to never skip a meal again, Y/n rolled her eyes and grabbed the nearest thing.

"STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

She looked to Edge, still holding the fistful of food. "Eating?" she asked, not getting why he looked so upset.

"WITH YOUR HANDS?!" He stood up, and walked briskly towards the stairs. Before he reached them, he turned and yelled at Red, "DON'T LET HER EAT ANYTHING UNTIL I COME BACK!"

Red nodded, turning his look at her with a mischievous smile, just daring her to try anything. She quickly dropped her food.

"I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO SAVE IT TILL LATER" Blueberry muttered, even as he and Papyrus quickly stood up to follow Edge.

"Save what for later?" Man, was she getting sick of hearing just one side of things. That, and having their brothers grinning at her like that.

"wait and see fun size" Stretch winked.

Before she could tell him where to stuff it, something metal clanged onto her plate, stilling her. Looking down, she saw a miniature knife and fork, just about the right size for her. Looking up, she watched as Edge walked back to his spot. He didn't look back at her until he was sitting down, at which point he blushed, scowled and looked away with a huff.

"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING FOR?! I ONLY MADE THOSE SO I DON'T HAVE TO SIT HERE WATCHING YOU SHOVEL FOOD INTO YOUR MOUTH LIKE AN ANIMAL, THAT'S ALL!"

"Edge, I-"

"DON'T FORGET ABOUT OUR GIFTS!"

Papyrus and Blueberry rushed in, each holding something behind their backs. With a huge grin and a dramatic revel, Papyrus held a small table and Blueberry had a small chair with a smaller cushion on it.

They placed these things on the table, in the space between them, just before her.

"YOU CAN SIT HERE FROM NOW ON AND HAVE ALL YOUR MEALS WITH US!" beamed Blueberry.

"AND I FOUND THIS THIMBLE IN MY ROOM, SO YOU CAN USE IT FOR A CUP!" Papyrus added, placing said thimble on her new table.

"you feeling okay kid?"

Y/n hid her face from Sans's question, turning her back to all the skeletons as she tried desperately to control her tears once again.

"I'm okay!" she wailed, "I just have something in my eyes, that's all!"

Sans, Stretch and Red chuckled softly, even as Papyrus asked, "WHAT FITS INTO A BITTY'S EYE?"

~*~

Later that night, absolutely stuffed after clearing her plate (every time she had wanted to quite, Blueberry had given her The Look), she stood over her phone, considering her options. She had just changed the Unknown Caller's details to Hot Pink (although she had toyed with the idea Dick), added Stretch's details from the picture as Tallboy (because of the frog, his height and game she was sure he had been eyeing on her gaming shelf) and Sans as Boner (in honour of his mistakes, the lap thing and his blush whenever she called him that), but now she looking around the room.

In truth, even after all the promise and firmer understanding she had with everyone, she knew that if she tried to sleep here, she'd be too paranoid to actually fall asleep. The only charm this place held for her was that it was hidden. With that gone, the feeling of 'my room' was gone too. Now it was just another place she used to sleep, which she wouldn't do if she tried tonight.

 _'Red's not the only paranoid sleeper.'_ she thought sadly. She really should have recognised another paranoid sleeper sooner. Then perhaps she could have skipped all this drama.

She gathered a few things and entered back into the vent, coming out close to the bathroom. The night was fairly quiet, the skeletons all in their rooms.

With a strained effort, she managed to pop open the door leading to the lien press, climbing up the selves till she came to the towels. Casting aside her bag and diving into the towels, she made herself comfortable, content knowing she was safe tonight.

_'Okay, it's time for a new beginning. Doesn't mean forgive and forget, but perhaps, live and let live.'_

 

 Next chapter is called: Opponent and Advisory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you're happen to be reading this and thinking 'but they said they'd update once a month and I find out there's two chapters now?', I still plan on updating on the first Saturday of each month. It's just, if I get the time, I can do that twice. Basically, if it's a Sunday in the middle of the month and there isn't an update, then I missed the chance and I'll keep it for later (keeping to Saturday makes it easier for me...hope you can understand that=)
> 
> Having said that, X-Mas/Giftmas is here! I most likely won't be updating because none of my stories are ready for Giftmas and it feels weird typing when I'm staring at tinsel. Also, my B-day's happens in early January and I want to binge play some games I've been putting off =P
> 
> Regardless, whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful time off in the company of your loved loves.
> 
> See you in January!
> 
> Oh, and here's something that you all know, but should be said often; you guys rock! I LIVE for the feedback/nice things you say and all that stuff!!!! It makes me 'over the moon-happy' to read and reread everything! You guys are my fuel, my inspiration to keep trying and to, perhaps, believe in myself...for once.
> 
> Words can't really convey how much I appreciate all the comments.


	6. Opponent and Advisory

When Y/n emerged from the linen cupboard, the house was still in the silent morning. She had gotten used to waking up to Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge stretching for their morning run or talking to each other as they left for it. She figured she would have heard them, especially seeing as she how she was so much closer to the front door right now.

_‘Perhaps they’re still asleep?’_

It seemed unlikely, but perhaps they slept in on the weekends? She thought about how quickly the past four days had gone, realising with a start that she had no clue what the skeletons did for money or if they even had jobs. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that she knew very little about who they were or where they had come from.

At first, she hadn’t cared, convinced that they would soon be moving out. Now she had gotten to know them a little better, she found herself actually curious about their pasts. So many questions and they had provided so few answers.

_‘They’ve probably been wondering the same thing about me.’_

They had asked about her, of course, when they had first moved in with questions about her past and this house. Four days ago, she had no reason to tell them anything and had every reason to tell them to keep their non-existent noses out of her business. If they asked her now, she didn’t know what she would say, or how much she would divulge.

The fact that she sort of might feel inclined to answer those questions now scared her. How could so much change in less than a week?

Closing the linen cupboard door, she made her way back to the hall vent, climbing back to her attic room. On the way, she paused at the junction the lead towards the bedroom vents, but moved on quickly, knowing that if she truly wanted to respect their privacy, knocking on their vents early in the morning to satisfy her curiosity wasn’t the way to do it.

_‘Besides, I won’t get a better chance to fill my water bottle than this.’_

The water bottle in question was roughly as tall as she was and, when filled, weighted twice her weight. After scrubbing the colour from her skin, cleaning the slime and mucus yesterday and the fact that it was close to the end of the week anyway, the last of the water was gone. With no water meant she couldn’t have clean clothes, baths or, most importantly, access to drinking water that didn’t require a faucet that anyone could see her using or turn off.

With a sigh, Y/n lifted and carried the water bottle to the vent, maneuvering it so that it hocked onto her backpack, leaving her arms free to transverse the vents.

Sliding down the vents proved awkward, as she tried many times to prevent the bottle from banging on the sides.

 _‘How strange.’_ she thought as she winched as she failed to stop the bottle from hitting the sides yet again, _‘This is the first time I’ve ever bothered attempting to do this quietly.’_

Apparently she wasn’t quite enough, because bellow her was Blueberry’s eye, looking up at her in confusion.

“Y/N?” “Blue?!”

She dropped, startled by the unexpected appearance of an eye light right under her!

*Cling*

*Clang*

*Clung!*

“Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

Y/n rubbed her sore backside, the bottle adding to the multiple impacts. The only saving grace was she only had fallen half the distance, rather the full three stories. She looked to see Blueberry’s concerned face pressed to the floor, outside the hall vent.

He reached in, gently grabbing her and lifting her with him as he stood up. She held tightly to the hand that held her as Blueberry quickly examined her, checking for any visible damage.

“Blue! Let me-!”

“WHAT WAS THAT NOISE!?”

Edge came running from upstairs, his eyes bathed in red flames. When he saw Y/n in Blueberry’s fist, his expression darkened.

“PUT HER DOWN BLUEBERRY. RIGHT NOW.”

Blueberry looked shocked, his hand automatically bringing her closer to him and away from Edge’s Death Glare.

“BUT I WAS JUST CHE-

“NOW!”

“Cool it Edge!” Y/n held out her hands, drawing attention to herself. “He was just checking to make sure I’m okay.”

“HE’S GRABBED YOU FROM THE VENT!”

“I DID NOT!”

“He didn’t” she agreed, nodding quickly, “I fell down in the vent. That’s the noise you probably heard.”

Edge stood there, still seething, but at least now the red flames were gone. Somewhat relieved, she turned her attention to Blueberry, tapping his gloves, “Now, can you let me go Blue?”

Blueberry slowly opened his hand, keeping his eyes on Edge, who watched them with his full attention.

Sighing and balancing on Blueberry’s palm, she took in the appearance of both skeletons, noticing that Edge wasn’t in his jogging outfit. In fact, they looked like the clothes he might have worn yesterday.

“Edge, didn’t you go jogging this morning?”

Edge flinched, before he glared at her, “WHAT’S IT TO YOU?”

She shrugged, “Nothing, I was just wondering if you skipped it because you needed the sleep in. You look tired.”

Edge stiffened, “I AM NOT TRIED! STOP PRYING!” Then he left, marching back upstairs. Y/n and Blueberry heard the distinct sound of a door slamming.

Confused, she turned to look at Blueberry, glad to see she wasn’t the only one. When she realised that he wasn’t the only skeleton who liked to go for morning jogs, she asked, “Where’s Papyrus?”

Blueberry shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before he turned to Y/n, beaming, “HE’S GONE TO CHECK ON ALL THE OUTSIDE PROJECTS, MAKE SURE THEY’RE STILL OKAY, AND I CAME IN TO FIND YOU FOR OUR COOKING LESSON.”

“Yes, speaking about ‘looking for me’.” she looked around, curious how his eye got in the vent when his head couldn’t fit. Looking to said vent, she saw a small empty photo frame on the ground, taken from the nearby hall table.

“Ah.”

Mystery solved, she turned to look at Blueberry who was eyeing her bottle. When he saw her attention returned to him, he continued, “I HEARD BANGING IN THE VENT AND THOUGHT IT MIGHT YOU BE IN NEED OF HELP?”

She grinned, “Nah, I’ve got it. I was just heading to the kitchen.”

“WANT ME TO CARRY YOU THERE?” Blueberry asked, hope in his eyes.

She thought about it, before she nodded with a smile, “Sure, why not?” It wasn’t like she didn’t already trust Blueberry, and they were both heading to the kitchen anyway.

He started at her, his face entirely expressionless. Then she noticed his eyes, changing from small picks of light to full stars, growing bigger and bigger by the second.

“Um, Blue, are you-?“

Blueberry pulled her to his chest, spinning in tight circles while he hugged her in an even tighter hug, whopping, “YES!!”

He eventually stopped spinning, holding her up and beaming up at her, “I PROMISE Y/N, I’LL KEEP YOU SAFE! YOU CAN TRUST ME!”

She gently patted his gloves, still trying to get used to his enthusiasm and the room spinning, “I know Blue. I already trust you, you know that right?” Hadn’t he proved that amply of times already?

He blushed, looking away.

“So, um, are we going to the kitchen or are we standing here all day?” she asked with a grin.

“OH!” He quickly lowered her and levelled his hand, allowing her to step awkwardly onto his shoulder, while he watched her with his head turned to her the entire time.

Once she was sitting on his shoulder, she could feel a subtle vibration under her. Confused, she was about to ask him what it was, but the moment she looked at his practically giddy expression, she figured it out quickly.

“Ready for our cooking lesson?”

Blueberry raised his fists, eager, “OF COURSE!”

“Okay! Blueberry, go!”

He sprinted to the kitchen, and Y/n would have immediately fallen off if she didn’t, at the last minute, brace herself.

The only way they would have gotten to the kitchen quicker was if they had teleported. Blueberry practically sprinted from fridge to cardboard, gathering all the equipment and ingredients necessary, while Y/n clung on to a person who made rough seas seem calm. It was in this manner that Stretch wondered in; collapsing onto the kitchen table like walking there had taken all of his energy.

He yawned, “morning blue, morning y/n.”

Blueberry spun around, nearly dropping an egg, “BROTHER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Stretch shrugged, “heard some commotion this morning and i couldn't get back to sleep.”

“I’M SORRY” Blueberry apologised, abashedly.

Stretch chuckled and waved off the apology, before his eyes moved on to her, “what’s with the bottle y/n?”

She looked away, instantly shyer the moment she realised that it was Stretch that had walked in. After yesterday, what with him saving her life and watching her collapse into a pile of tears, well... she was embarrassed to be seen by him at this very moment. Not to mention the day before that, what with her embarrassing herself over a stupid video game match. Stretch had been a key witness to most of her embarrassing moments in the past week (hell, since becoming a bitty), and she could feel how awkward that was making her being in the same room as him now.

“It’s nothing” she mumbled, not quite meeting his eye.

Blueberry didn’t notice anything strange, instead posing with Y/n on his shoulder, “Y/N’S AGREED TO SIT ON MY SHOULDER!”

“that’s cool bro. you two make an awesome team” Stretch replied with a smaller laugh than before.

Blueberry gasped, turning to look at her, “TEAM BREAKFAST!”

She grinned, his pure happiness expression bringing a huge smile to hers, “The breakfast squad!”

His eyes lit up, “THE BREAKFAST SQUAD! I LOVE IT” He brightened even more (if that was possible), “READY TO COOK, PARTNER?!”

“Let's get cooking partner!”

~*~

Cooking with Blueberry followed the same process as it had with Papyrus and Edge; Blueberry remembered some of what she taught him, but not enough that he would have produced edible food is she hadn’t been there (remembering yesterday proved that).

Now she was looking down at a pile of pancakes, quietly contemplating whether or not she should introduce another meal option for Blueberry when he still struggled with this (same went for Papyrus and Edge, now that she thought about it).

“Y/N?”

She looked over to see Blueberry turned to face her. “READY FOR BREAKFAST?” he asked.

She jumped off his shoulder, landing on the bench, “Just give me a second to wash up, I’ll catch up.”

Blueberry nodded, picking up several plates and balancing them on his arms, “DON’T TAKE TOO LONG COOKING PARTNER?”

She nodded, waving him off. He smiled in response, his brother carrying the last of the plates as they left together.

Looking to the sink, she unhooked her bottle from her bag and dragged the uncapped bottle towards it. Once it was firmly under the tap, she managed to turn on the faucet, filling the bottle to the brim with clean fresh water.

Hauling it out once it was safely capped was difficult, but not impossible. A bit of grunt work and she had it pushed up and into the vent, ready for her to follow it.

“need any help?”

Startled, she turned to see Stretch leaning in the kitchen archway, watching her casually.

He arched his brow at her, indicating to the bottle above her. Looking at the bottle, she shrugged, “No thanks, I’ve got it.”

“y/n.” She turned to see Stretch slowly walk towards her, his hands out of his pockets for once, “are you sure you don’t want my help carrying that bottle, which will take me three seconds and no effort, or are you happy to drag it yourself to wherever, knowing that it’ll probably take you severally minutes to do so?”

What he was asking for was trust; to accept his offer without fearing any consequences because she trusted him enough to believe there wouldn’t be any.

Slowly, she nodded. “Yes please”, she said quietly.

Stretch grinned, moving closer to her and the bottle. Lifting it from the vent, he turned back to Y/n with the bottle in hand.

“so, where am i putting this?”

She looked away, “Just by the attic vents.”

“done.”

She looked back at him, surprised, to see him grinning at her, his hands now empty.

“B-but how?” The realisation hit her. “Oh!”

She raised an eyebrow, “magic?”

“magic” he agreed, wiggling a hand at her with a wink.

She chuckled, her awkwardness with Stretch momentarily forgotten.

Eventually, Stretch lowered his hand before her, casually asking “need a lift?”

She looked at his hand then to his face, blushing when she met his eye. Avoiding his inquisitive stare, she quickly clambered on, holding on tightly as he lifted her to his shoulder. Once she was safely off and sitting on his shoulder, they moved towards the dining room.

“-you’ll need to compensate for the electrical surge by grounding the structure.”

“I’VE ALREADY TOLD YOU, THERE ISN’T ENOUGH SPACE FOR THAT TYPE OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, NOT WITHOUT THE RISK OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM FRYING.”

“WHAT IF WE CHANGE-.“

“hey guys, we’re here.”

Y/n and Stretch walked in to see the rest of the family sitting at the table, discussing what sounded like the type of tech jargon that one might expect from people who felt it necessary to build a laboratory in a new home.

When Stretch lowered her from his shoulder to the table, she walked over to her place between Papyrus and Blueberry, asking “That sounds like some serious tech talk. Everything okay?”

She noticed how no one was quick to answer her, leaving Sans to say, “actually y/n, we’re all planning to work in the lab today.”

She quietly thanked Blueberry, who had placed a saucer plate with plenty of pancake piece, covered in syrup on her table, before asking “What about outside? Isn’t there still plenty that needs to be done?”

Papyrus spoke up, “I’VE CHECK ON EVERYTHING OUTSIDE AND IT’LL BE OKAY FOR TODAY.” He looked around the table earnestly, “THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT, PARTICULARLY NOW THAT WE HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT.”

Sans nodded his agreement, “which is why we’re all needed in the basement, just for today anyway.” Then he seemed to remember something, because he amended, “well, everyone but edge.”

She looked over to Edge, seeing him sitting there crossed armed and glaring at a nearby wall, “Edge? Why isn’t he going to help you?”

“BECAUSE” he snapped, looking sharply at her, “I’VE ALREADY DONE MY PART BY HELPING THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM.”

He reached within his shirt and whisked out scrolls of blue paper, which he slammed onto the table. “BLUEPRINTS” he stated, “CORRECTLY SCALED WITH A BASIC SET UP ALREADY DESIGNED.” He sat back, looking quite pleased with himself, “THAT SHOULD AT LEAST GIVE YOU CRETINS A STARTING POINT.”

All the skeletons stared in amazement at the scrolls, looking between them and Edge like they couldn’t quite believe their eyes.

“EDGE, THAT’S- THAT’S REALLY IMPRESSIVE” Blueberry admitted, awed.

“OF COURSE IT IS!”

“hee, that’s the boss for ya” Red added, looking positively proud.

“IT MUST HAVE TAKEN YOU ALL NIGHT” Papyrus said as he unfurled the nearest one, looking over the designs.

Edge spluttered, glaring at the wall again “O-OF COURSE NOT! I’M JUST THAT AMAZING, THAT’S ALL!”

Stretch chuckled, leaning back in his chair, “it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you’re looking forward to today?”

Edge gasped, looking at Y/n briefly before he glared at Stretch, blush on his cheeks, “I-I’M NOT EAGER! I’VE BEEN FORCED INTO THIS! THAT’S ALL!”

“I’LL TAKE YOUR PLACE” offered Blueberry, hand in the air.

Before Edge could stop glaring at Blueberry and start yelling at him, Red spoke up, “not a chance blue. a deal is a deal, remember? you wouldn’t want to go back on a deal now, would’ya?”

“Um, guys?”

The skeletons stopped their argument, looking at Y/n, who had finished her meal while she had watched them, who now asked, “What’s happening for lunch and dinner then?”

Papyrus brightened, “DON’T WORRY Y/N! YOU AND I WILL STILL HAVE OUR FANTASTIC COOKING LESSON AT THE SAME TIME, SO IF WE MEET IN THE KITCHEN LIKE NORMAL, IT SHOULD BE FINE.”

She nodded, still somewhat confused with how quickly plans seemed to have been made while she had filled up a bottle.

“well then, if that’s settled then.”

As one, all the skeletons but Edge stood up, taking their plates with them to the kitchen. The sounds of plates being placed on the bench could be heard before everyone walked passed Y/n and Edge on their way to the basement.

The distance sound of a door closing punctured the stunned silence that followed this immediate departure.

Y/n and Edge were left sitting there, both startled by the abrupt disappearance of the rest of the family filing down to the basement. To lighten the mood, she turned and chuckled awkwardly, “They were in quite a hurry to get the basement, weren’t they?”

Edge didn’t look at her or respond, his entire attention still focused on the doorway everyone else had left. He appeared to have forgotten she was even here because he was muttering quietly to himself, “THIS IS STUPID AND POINTLESS AND A WASTE OF TIME, SHE’S ISN’T GOING TO LIKE-.“

Then he suddenly remembered her existence, stopping himself mid-rant and looking to her with mild fear in his eyes. Figuring that the ‘she’ was her, Y/n asked, “What am I not going to like Edge?”

Edge blushed furiously, looking anywhere but at her as he briskly walked past her and out towards the living room, yelling “NOTHING!” over his shoulder.

Somewhat concerned over him practically fleeing from the room, she followed him.

Y/n found him sitting in the living room, sitting crossed-armed in an armchair, scowling out a window. He looked angry, upset that he had been forced to babysit her because of course, he had drawn the short straw to do this.

_‘Now he’s stuck here with me all day.’_

Sighing, she made her way up to the coffee table and sat down with an even heavier sigh. “You don’t have to keep me company you know. You can go and help the others if you want.”

Edge flinched, looking sharply at her before he returned to staring out the window. “IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?” he asked harshly.

She shrugged, “If you’re asking if I don’t want to hang out with you all day, then the answer is I’m okay with it.”

“REALLY?!” he replied surprised, before he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “WHY?”

She grinned up at Edge, who had finally turned to face her, “I’ve always had fun tormenting you, even back when you were trying to kill me.”

They both thought back on the water fight, one scowling while the other grinned at the memory.

“I THINK-” Edge said, a triumphed gleam growing in his eyes as he smiled down at her, “-IT’S TIME FOR A REMATCH.”

~*~

Y/n stood in the backyard, looking at what could only be described as a rat maze made entirely out of bones. She turned back to look at a smug Edge, who had walked outside and summoned this thing. Now he stood there, soft red flames curling around his gloved hands, positively beaming with self-satiation.

“You want me to do what?”

“IT’S SIMPLE; REACH THE END OF THE MAZE.”

“You’ve ever heard of a rat maze?”

He grinned “THINK THIS MORE LIKE A BITTY MAZE.”

She folded her arms, looking up at him in disbelief, “And why would I do this?”

He placed his hands on his hips, leaning down towards her, “BECAUSE YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE BET WHERE THE WINNER CAN ASK THE LOSER TO DO SOMETHING FOR THEM.”

“And what could I possibly want you to do for me?”

He thought about it, before his grin returned, “I HAVE A CAR AND I’LL DRIVE YOU ANYWHERE YOU WANT.” He grinned, “BEING COOPED HERE, WITH NO MEANS OF EFFICIENT TRAVEL, YOU MUST SURELY HAVE THINGS YOU WISH YOU COULD DO, PLACES YOU’D LIKE TO VISIT.” He eyed her, “I’M OFFERING A FULL DAY OF TRAVEL TO ANYWHERE YOU COULD POSSIBLY WANT TO GO.”

She didn’t like to admit it, but the offer was really tempting. There were plenty of places and things she would love to see and do but were simply beyond her reach now. However, nothing out there was worth the anxiety of leaving this place.

_‘He’s going to be suspicious if I decline the offer though.’_

“What about if I want you to drive somewhere and get me something instead?”

“LIKE WHAT?” He asked, taken aback.

She smiled, thinking back on the soft-drink, “Go get some paper and a pen.”

~*~

“-and a large bottle of my favourite soft drink…actually, make it two.”

“YOU PLAN TO EAT ALL THIS JUNK?” Edge asked incredulously, looking down at the list he had written.

She rubbed the back of her head, “Eventually.”

He eyed her in disbelief and she could feel her defensives kicking into gear, “I mean, who knows when I’m going to get a chance like this again. Plus, you’re sort of forking over the bill, so win-win.”

He looked back at the list, before he laughed and tucked it away safely, “IT’S NOT LIKE IT MATTERS, YOU WON’T WIN.”

“We’ll see about that.” Then she thought about the consequence of failure, “And what exactly do you want me to do?”

She had never seen him smile quite like that; it was the type of smile the devil surely makes as he watches people sign his contracts. “IF YOU LOSE-“, he brought his face closer to her, looming over her and casting a shadow over her, “ YOU MUST ALLOW ME TO RECORD YOU SAYING, WORD FOR WORD, A SPEECH I HAVE WRITTEN.”

“And what would I be saying?”

He looked to his gloves, checking them for dirt, “OH, JUST HOW INFERIOR YOU ARE AND HOW SMART AND BRILLIANT I AM.” He grinned at her, “DON’T WORRY, IT WILL BE MUCH LONGER THAN THAT.”

“So, you want me to inflate your ego?”

“JUST TO ADMIT TO SOME BASIC FACTS PEST.”

She grinned up at him, hands on her hips, “Bring it jackwagon!”

~*~

“Edge! This maze has to be possible to solve!”

He laughed above her, a smile fixed firmly on his features the moment she entered the maze, “OH BUT IT IS!”

“The maze walls keep changing!”

She knew this for a fact because, when she had first entered, she had used the pink crayon to mark her path on the bone walls. When she had backtracked later, the marks were gone and another path had opened up. It took her several backtracks before she figured out she was being had.

She looked up to the smug bastard, who grinned down at her, “AT EVERY MOMENT, THIS MAZE IS SOLVABLE. ONLY THE ANSWER IS CHANGING.” He sighed mockingly, “BUT IF YOU’RE NOT SMART ENOUGH, FEEL FREE TO ADMIT DEFEAT.”

She flipped him off, earning her a wicked laugh from him.

_‘Screw this! If he isn’t going to play fair, then why should I?’_

Pulling off her backpack, she fished out her second pin. With a satisfying stab, she felt the pin penetrate the bone and hold. She quickly looked up at him, trying to engage his reaction, but his only response was to look even smugger (if that was possible).

Hand over hand, she pulled herself up. It took longer than she expected and when she looked down she saw that she had travelled quite the distance up. When she looked up, however, her stomach dropped; the bone she was on and the ones that were next to it were twice as tall as they had once been. As she watched, they kept growing, inch by inch.

Casting a furious glare at Edge (now at his hip level), she fumed quietly as Edge laughed in self-satisfaction.

“PERHAPS I’VE OVERESTIMATED YOUR CAPABILITIES.”

She dropped to the ground, putting the pins away while she fished out her empty pen tube. With it, she attempted to pry the bones apart, to create a small enough gap to squeeze through. All she managed to do was snap it into pieces.

“MAYBE YOU AREN’T A WORTHY OPPONENT AFTER ALL.”

She threw one of the pieces up at him.

Finally having enough, she tried to break the bone, digging a pin in the same spot again and again into the nearest one. It chipped, layer by layer, but as she watched, it grew wider and wider.

 “I THINK I SHOULD ACTUALLY GET SOME RATS. THEY’D HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT SOLVING THIS THAN YOU.”

Putting the pin away, she whirled to stare up in furious frustration at her tormentor, “Edge! You-!”

“Y/N?”

Papyrus calling for the backdoor stopped her mid-rant. Before she could respond (to tell Papyrus where she was or to come back after she vented, she wasn’t sure), Papyrus’s beaming face came into her view, high above her.

“OH, A MOVING MAZE!” He looked at Edge, whose mood had noticeable soured, “HOW CLEVER!”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT CREAMPUFF?” Edge snapped.

“IT’S TIME FOR LUNCH AND I'M HERE TO GET Y/N.”

“ALREADY?” “already?”

Papyrus beamed, “YES.” He offered his hand to Y/n, who looked at it before looking at Edge. Edge had turned away, his mood in stark contrast to what it had been moments ago. Shrugging, she quickly jumped onto Papyrus hand, who raised her to his eye level.

“YOU CAN SIT ON MY SHOULDER TOO, IF YOU WANT TO” he added, looking away shyly.

“Thanks, Papyrus.”

He moved her to his shoulder, the biggest smile she had ever seen on him as a pink blush came over his cheeks. After confirming that she was safely seated on his shoulder, he turned and walked towards the house, humming to himself.

“Oh!” She spun around, facing back towards Edge, who was still looking away, “Edge! This isn’t over! I’ll be back for my sweet victory!” _‘Because there’s no way I’ll admit defeat and be forced to read any speech you’ve prepared.’_

He gasped at her, looking at her in disbelief, before he threw his head back, laughing, “OF COURSE YOU WILL! ONLY YOU WILL BE GIVING A MONUMENTAL SPEECH ABOUT MY SPLENDOUR! IN FACT” he pulled out a spare piece of paper and the pen, “I’M GOING TO GET STARTED ON YOUR GLORIOUS SPEECH RIGHT NOW!”

“WHAT’S EDGE TALKING ABOUT?” Papyrus asked, closing the back door and staring back at an Edge visibly laughing by himself, scribble notes.

She grinned, “It’s nothing Papyrus. Just a little friendly bet we’ve got going on.”

He gasped, “Y/N! YOU SHOULD NEVER GAMBLE!”

“What about a friendly competition where the winner gets something from the loser?”

That stopped him. “WELL, UM.”

He thought about it as they entered the kitchen. Finally, he seemed to decide, “IF IT’S A FRIENDLY COMPETITION BETWEEN FRIENDS, THEN I GUESS THAT MAKES IT OKAY.” He seemed reluctant to admit that.

“It’s all good, I promise.”

“WELL, IF YOU PROMISE…”

He turned his attention to the kitchen, pulling out ingredients and equipment.

“IT’S STRANGE TO ME THAT EDGE IS DIRECTLY FUELLING THE MAZE WITH HIS MAGIC INSTEAD OF SUPPLYING IT TO AN ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCTION.” Papyrus said absentmindedly, mentally ticking off things from a list as he looked over what he gathered.

“An artificial what?”

“IT’S SOMETHING THAT OPERATES INDEPENDENTLY, POWERED BY OUR MAGIC. THAT WAY THE RESULTS CAN’T BE ALTERED IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO THE SUPPLIER.”

“Like what?” She asked, knowing a gold mine of information when she saw it.

Papyrus posed, quite pleased to be the centre of her attention, “WELL, ONE COULD RUN DANGEROUSLY LOW ON MAGIC AND HAVE TO STOP THE PUZZLE. NOT TO MENTION A MONSTER’S INTENT AFFECTS OUR MAGIC. WHAT HAPPENS IF THAT MONSTER DIDN’T WANT THE PUZZLE TO BE SOLVED! SCANDALOUS I KNOW, BUT IT COULD HAPPEN.”

"So what you’re saying-“ she said slowly, her smile growing, “-is that your magic is entirely affected by your emotions!”

“WHY YES LITTLE HUM-“

She hugged him, clinging to the side of his skull. “Thank you Papyrus!”

So absorbed with what this information did to her chances of winning this bet with Edge, she didn’t notice the neon glow that turned Papyrus into a sputtering light bulb.

Now she had a plan.

~*~

Papyrus had improved, but not enough that she could rely on him to actually produce an edible meal unsupervised. Though, that might have to do with how distracted he became after their talk, although she couldn’t figure out why.

What was interesting was the state of the rest of the skeleton household, who were covered in sawdust, oil and grime. She had asked how the progress was going (because asking them what they were doing would surely be like asking Steven Hawkins what his latest paper was about), and they had all responded with various forms of enthusiasm, confirming that they should be done before dinner.

Edge had spent the entire meal writing on a piece of paper, casting glances often at her direction with a smug- knowing expression (which she gladly returned), a private war of wills between them. When the others had asked what had happened, they both replied it was nothing, before returning to their staring competition.

Now she stood on the opposite of Edge, opposite side of the bone maze again, who was as smug as ever.

“READY TO FAIL AGAIN PEST?”

She grinned back up, “Oh, you better believe it jackwagon” _‘Now that I’ve got a plan, you’re going down and getting me some treats!’_

She ran into the maze, a plan that was just waiting for Edge to change the maze on her. Sure enough, she could feel the subtle shift as the maze walls changed around her.

Grinning, she looked up at Edge, “I figured you’d resort to cheating again.”

Edge’s grin faltered. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

Feeling the nearby wall, she continued, “I knew you didn’t have the skills to beat me without resorting to cheating.”

“WHY YOU LITTLE-!”

There! The wall wavered, creating a large enough gap that she easily slipped through. Now she was closer to the exit, the closest she had ever made it!

She cheered with her hands up, quite pleased her plan was working! Edge stood there, astounded, before he quickly returned to disappointed anger. “THE CREAMPUFF TOLD YOU A FEW THINGS, DIDN’T HE.”

It wasn’t a question.

She grinned, answering coolly, “Maybe.”

He stared at her grinning face, before he huffed, return back to his previous smugness, “ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN, YOU WON’T BE MAKING IT FURTHER THAN THAT.”

“Are you sure, you pathetic excuses for an opponent?”

His fists clenched on his arms and his scowl darkened, but the walls didn’t waver again. Noticing her disappointed expression, his own brightened slightly.

Sighing, she rethought her plan quickly.

Suddenly, with a wild point over his shoulder, she exclaimed, “Edge! Watch out!”

He quickly turned, his fists brought up into a fighting stance and Y/n noticed how the walls around her simply vanished. Laughing, she managed run even deeper into the maze, and closer to the exit.

A bone wall abruptly materialised right in front of her face and she ran into it face first. Rubbing her thankfully-not-broken nose, she looked up to see Edge, now much closer to her, who was not at all happy.

He scowled down at her, arms crossed, “I SEE YOU’RE RESORTING TO CHEAP TACTICS. WHAT’S THE MATTER, INCAPABLE OF SOLVING A SIMPLE MAZE?”

“I'm using whatever I have to win this.” She looked back to the maze walls, thinking “You’ll have to tell me how cheap my tactics are when you're forking over the money for my treats!”

“IMPRESSIVE.”

Y/n quickly looked up at Edge, unsure if she heard him just say that or if it was her imagination. When he noticed that she was staring at him, he looked away, the faint trace of a blush on his cheeks. An idea occurred to her, but it was a matter of how badly did she want to win this?

“You sure are.”

Edge looked down at her, confused and suspicious, “I AM WHAT?”

“Impressive.” She looked back at him, shrugging, “But what else can I expect from a monster capable of summoning all of this in mere seconds?”

He stared at her in shock, mouth hanging open.

She continued, “It so cool how you’re able to maintain all of this after so long. You must be one of the most powerful monsters that ever existed.” She looked at him, admiration in her eyes, “Tell me, why are you so amazing?”

He stared at her, a slow blush building on his cheeks. Then he threw his head back with a laugh, “NYHA HAH HAH! OF COURSE YOU ARE IMPRESSED BY MY AWESOME DISPLAYS OF MAGICAL PROWLERS THAT NO MONSTER CAN EVER HOPE TO MATCH!” He looked back at her, grinning as he saw she was clinging to his every word, “I SHALL RECOUNT MY LEGENDARY RISE TO IMMORTALISED PERFECTION YOU SEE STANDING BEFORE YOU TODAY!” He posed, “IT ALL STARTED WHEN I WAS BORN-.“

“Made it!!”

He stopped posing, turning slowly to see her cheering at the maze’s exit.

“YOU, YOU MADE IT?” he asked, stunned.

She beamed, quite pleased with herself, “Yep! I made it.” She looked up to see his expression a mix of frustration and…reluctant admiration?

_‘That can’t be it, must be the angle I’m viewing him.’_

She asked, “Edge, can I climb up to your shoulder?”

He didn't respond, still staring at her.

"Edge?"

He nodded slowly, not quite meeting her eye.

After she had managed to climb up and she was sitting safely on his should, he still wouldn’t meet her eye and she could tell he was embarrassed, in a frustrated, humiliated way.

Taping his shoulder, she admitted, “But seriously, I would like to hear where you came from some time.” She smirked, “After you’ve gotten my treats, of course.”

“YOU WANT ME TO GET THEM NOW?” he asked, incredulously.

She grinned, “If you think you can get them in time before our cooking lesson.”

He seemed to consider that, before he reluctantly nodded and turned to the house. The bone maze vanished behind them.

“IF YOU’RE REALLY INTERESTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME, YOU WOULD COME ALONG TO THE STORE.”

She could feel herself clenching, looking away from his searching gaze.

“Heh, no it’s fine. I rather stay here, thanks” she said, trying to pull of nonchalant.

He looked like he was going to continue to persuade her, so she tried to distract him instead, “Hey, how about I give you my number and you can text me how it’s going or any questions you have?”

He looked taken aback, before he narrowed his glare at her, “WHY WOULD I BOTHER TO TEXT YOU IF YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED IN COMING WITH ME?”

“Come on Edge, everyone else has my number.”

“NO! EVEN IF I HAD IT, I WOULDN’T BE TEXTING YOU EVERY MINUTE LIKE THOSE SIMPLETONS DID THE OTHER DAY.”

She chuckled, complexly forgetting that Edge had probably stood there the entire day glaring at two people that texted every time they entered a new shop or saw a new thing.

“That bad?”

He huffed, “YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW SLOW WE WERE, HOW MUCH SOONER WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HOME IF THEY HADN’T BEEN TEXTING.” He narrowed his eyes at her guilty expression “AND DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE THE PART YOU PLAYED TO SLOW US DOWN!”

She laughed, “I swear to you Edge, that wasn’t why I was texting them.”

He rolled his eyes, “IF I HAD YOUR NUMBER, I WOULD HAVE TEXTED YOU TO LEAVE US ALONE.”

“So you do want it.”

“THAT WASN’T –“ He threw his hand up, “FINE!”

He pulled out his phone, practically shoving it to her chest and nearly knocking her off his shoulder. Grinning, she entered her details, and returned his phone to his waiting hand.

“IF THAT’S OVER AND DONE WITH.”

He held a hand flat for her, clearly expecting her to climb onto it. Somewhat wary, she hopped off his shoulder and sat on his hand, watching as he brought and dumped her on the kitchen bench.

Looking up, Y/n watched as Edge checked the time, before he pulled out her list. Seeing her watching him, he huffed, putting away the list, “WELL, IF I’M EXPECTED TO PICK UP ALL THIS JUNK IN TIME, I BEST BE OFF.”

He moved towards the door, stopping to look back at her, “YOU BETTER BE HERE WHEN I COME BACK. UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE-“ he eyed her meaningfully, “-I’M NOT AFRAID TO GO OUTSIDE.”

He left, leaving her staring after him in surprise.

~*~

Red entered the room sometime after Edge had left and she had returned from fetching her phone. After she had changed Edge's details to 'Jackwagon' and she had asked Red what he was doing here, whereupon he informed her that everyone was done with the lab. Then she went back to texting Edge, laughing at his continued irritated responses, while effectively ignoring Red. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Red, but for right now, he seemed to be okay with sitting there quietly watching her, so she couldn’t really complain. He hadn’t said anything beyond chuckling when she told him where his brother was and who she was texting, so he couldn’t be all that bad in any case.

Edge had stopped responding to her texts awhile ago and, sure enough, the front door slamming shut announced his arrival.

“THOSE DUMB MOUTH BREATHERS!”

Edge entered the kitchen, bags in his arms and livid.

“Have fun at the store Edge?” she asked, grinning because she already knew he hadn’t.

Edge narrowed his eyes at her, “YOU KNOW FULL WELL ALREADY, YOU PEST! WHAT, WITH YOUR INSISTENT TEXTING AND HORRIBLE INSTRUCTIONS!”

“I was trying to help you find the right brand! And you didn’t have to respond, you know.”

“LIKE I COULD HAVE ASKED THOSE IDIOTS FOR HELP!?”

He dumped the bags on the kitchen table, barely acknowledging his brother. “THE MOST MORTIFYING PART WAS THAT THE MORONS ACTUALLY THOUGHT ALL OF THIS WAS FOR ME!” he looked horrified at the very thought.

“what’ya get boss?” Red asked, pulling out a bag of chips.

Edge waved a hand at the bags dismissively, “JUNK FOOD TO SATISFY THE PEST’S UNHEALTHY OBSESSION.”

“I’ve already told you, I don’t plan to eat all of this in one sitting.” She shrugged, “Anyway, a bet’s a bet. You wouldn’t want to back out of our agreement, would you?”

Red sweated nervously as Edge came marching over towards her, leaning down to glare at her. “THE TERRIBLE EDGE WOULD NEVER GO BACK ON HIS WORD, DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU CHEATED.”

“I believe that’s you trying to say that you’re impressed with my outside-the-box thinking skills.”

He stood back, spluttering denial while he blushed.

She looked over at the pile of junk food, thinking about how easy it had been to fluster Edge and how easily she imagined the other skeletons would be to read. She had fun today; the heated battle of wills remained her of an old favourite card game she used to play with her family. Grinning, she turned and asked the brothers, “Have you guys ever played 31 before?”

~*~

After cooking and having dinner (Edge had improved the most, if for no other reason that he was determined to prove he had remembered all her instructions, despite a few errors), Y/n found herself sitting at the dining room table, all of her hard-won treats out and served for the whole skeleton family to enjoy.

Or whatever was left, as she entered this final round with Blueberry.

They were playing with pieces of candy, instead of money, the rest of the treats having already been served out and devoured by the skeletons who found they had rather liked the treats. Each had their preference, of course, but all had tried the different flavours and all had agreed that she had a problem. She had tried to defend herself, claiming that it had been ages since she had these and Edge had agreed to the terms of the bet, but she hadn’t persuaded anyone.

Actually, she suspected they had eating more than they normally would have in an effort to deny her, to restrict her to some degree.

Now she stood next to a tall glass of her favourite soft drink, nearly gone, playing desperately for the jackpot that had the last of the lollies. If she won this, there’d be no stopping her, now without bluntly doing so.

 _‘Actually’_ , she thought, looking over at Blueberry and waiting for his next move, ‘ _it’s pure luck that I’ve managed to get this far’._

Sans, Stretch and Red had some serious poker-faces. The only reason that they were out was because she had managed to get 31 in one round, taking the last of their lives and candy. She certainly hadn’t been able to identify their tells. Papyrus had gone out first, still somewhat suspicious whether or not this counted as gambling or a friendly game. Edge had bitterly complained about a rigged deck, although now both he and Papyrus were hanging over her, buzzing her with their bad luck (not that she was suspicious or anything).

Ignoring them, she looked to Blueberry who finally decided to knock, signifying that his turn was to give her a last chance to improve her score before they counted their cards.

Somewhat concerned, she picked up her cards again, holding them long ways just so she could see what she was holding with both hands. She had 21, and the card on top of the pile (the heart of 6) would give her 27. She had been holding out for a bigger heart, reluctant to drop the ace of diamonds she had for anything less, lest she give Blueberry 31 accidentally.

She looked over at the deck; her options were to take the 6 or risk it for an unknown, possibly getting a 10 that would give her 31, thus winning the game!

_‘A 6 isn’t that great anyway.’_

With that thought, she placed her cards on the table, walking over to the deck and looked at what she had drawn.

A 2 of spades.

She started at the black symbol, cursing her greed.

“did you get what you needed?”

She cast a furious glare at Stretch, who sat by his brother’s side and quite smug at her apparent displeasure.

Dumping the 2 on top of the pile, she walked back, flipping over her cards. “21” she called.

Blueberry grinned, reliving his cards with an eager flourish, “26! I WIN!”

She watched with bitter regret as Blueberry scoped up the lolly jackpot with both hands, keenly aware that if she had taken that stupid 6, she’d be the one scooping up that sweet jackpot!

Sans chuckled, gathering the cards towards him so that he could put them away, “good game y/n. we’ll defiantly have to play again.”

“yea, only with money and stripping” Red chuckled.

Stretch rolled his eyes, “nobody wants to see that red.”

“AND YOU WILL NOT SUBJECT ME TO THAT HORROR SHOW BROTHER!” Edge glowered at Red, who was still behind her chair.

Y/n nodded her agreement, “The only way I’m playing anything like that is if I’ve been swimming in booze for at least an hour.”

Red grinned at her, “that, i would love to see.”

Rolling her eyes, she stretched her stiff muscles, “Charming as that sounds, think I’ll head to bed and plot how I’m going to steal those lollies.” She eyed Blueberry’s protective grip on his horde with a genuine chuckle.

“ACTUALLY Y/N, THERE’S SOMETHING WE’D LIKE TO SHOW YOU.”

Curious, she looked back to see Papyrus beaming, offering her his hand. Looking around the room, she saw that all the skeletons suddenly brighten for some reason.

“What is it?” she asked, cautiously.

Blueberry beamed, still maintaining a tight grip on his stash, “IT'S SOMETHING REALLY COOL Y/N!”

She continued to hesitate, prompting Edge to scoff, “WHAT, YOU DON'T TRUST US? STILL?"

It wasn’t an issue of trusting them. Now it was an issue of being the sole focus on six individuals, when a few days ago such focus meant she was currently being hunted.

Still, she wasn’t one to let others see her weakness, so she nodded, moving quickly onto Papyrus offered a hand. Rather than lifting her to his shoulder, he kept her on his gloved hand. She could feel the slight tremor emanating from him, saw how his eyes seemed to sparkle. Whatever it was, she hadn’t seen him this excited since she opened her house-mate warming gift. Actually, everybody seemed excited, she thought, looking around.

“Okay, what is it?” she asked, cautiously.

Sans, Stretch and Red had already left the room, heading for upstairs, while Blueberry hung at the base, literally bouncing with joy while Edge lagged behind.

“COME ON, COME ON! EVERYONE’S BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ALL DAY!” then Blueberry rushed upstairs, apparently unable to take standing in that spot much longer.

With a laugh, Papyrus carried Y/n upstairs, his own excitement matching Blueberry as he took the steps two at a time.

When they reached the landing, everyone stood in front of something covered and that was as tall as a filing cabinet. Edge moved passed Papyrus and Y/n to stand beside his brother, determinedly not meeting her stare.

Sans stepped forward, awkwardly rubbing the back of his skull, “y/n, i know that we didn’t meet under the best of circumstances, but we wanted to show you how much we appreciate you letting us live here, and to find a way of thanking you properly.” he looked around at the rest of the skeletons, “we’ve all been getting along so much better since we’ve moved in.”

Stretch laughed, “you should have seen us before kid. every hour there was an argument over something or other.”

“only because you kept stealing my smokes ashtray.”

Stretch shrugged while Edge narrowed his eyes at Red, “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO DROP THAT FILTHY HABIT.”

Red shrank into his hoodie, “sorry boss.”

“anyway, we all got together and made you this.”

With an eager pull, Blueberry ripped off the coverings, exposing what was underneath.

It was a small, two story-house, build into and set upon a cabinet, complete with a balcony.

“so, what do you think?”

She didn’t answer the question, didn’t even hear who had asked the question. All she knew was she was being moved closer to the house, gently tipped onto the house’s balcony.

“um y/n? don’t you want to see what it looks like inside?”

Absentmindedly, she walked forward and opened the front door, mildly noting that the door and its handle was built for the right size for her.

Inside, there was a kitchen, a lounge room, two doors that lead somewhere and a staircase that lead to an open second floor. All of it fully furnished and made exactly for her size.

“the entire house has electricity, with working light switches and fans, with working plumbing in both the kitchen and bathroom.”

She tested both out in the kitchen, notice the water had both a hot and cold tap and the lights looked like they might have come from Christmas lights.

Someone chuckled outside, “no more filling up a bottle and carrying it into your room. Fresh, hot and cold water will come out of those taps, hooked directly into the house’s main water system. We even managed to build you a small washing machine.”

“BLUEBERRY AND I MADE THE UTILITIES THAT CONNECT TO THE WATER AND ELECTRICITY SYSTEMS, PLUS ALL THE FURNITURE.”

“YEA! WE WANTED TO MAKE EVERYTHING BRIGHT AND SPARKLE, BUT OUR BROTHERS SAID TO LET YOU DECORATE IT HOWEVER YOU WANT, SO YOU CAN TELL US WHAT COLOURS YOU’D LIKE AFTER YOU’RE DONE EXPLORING!”

Someone else chuckled, “since i’ve stolen your basement, i’ve made sure you’ve got one of your own. there’s an elevator build into the floor, over by the stairs that lead directly to it.”

She looked over and saw how a small square section had been deliberately decorated in a different colour. Walking over it, she noticed two pedals, a red and green one, on opposite sides to each other.

“the red one lowers while the green one lifts. give it a try.”

Pressing on the red pedal, the section she stood one was lowered, the whirl of mechanical parts working to lower her. Once her eye level passed the ‘ground’ level, she saw that the cabinet section was made up of multiple levels, each lit up with multiple lights that provided more than enough light for her to see that it went all the way to the ground.

“you’ll notice that the side closest to us and opposite the wall has latches on it?” She looked and saw them, noting how complex and sturdy the latches were, “if you unlatch them, this entire section will open out…in case you ever need to.”

She pushed on the green pedal, bringing herself up once again. Once the floor safely clicked back into place, she turned around and saw multiple skeletons eye lights peering in, looking at her through the multiple windows that were built.

Noticing her expression, Edge strolled forward, “ASSUMING THAT MY BROTHER FOLLOWED MY INSTRUCTIONS, YOU WILL FIND THAT NONE OF US CAN REACH YOU IN THE HOUSE.”

To prove his point, he tried to reach in for her, trying to get her through the door and windows. She jumped back, a small shriek starling even her.

“edge, a little warning –.“

“THAT’S NOTHING. ASSUMING YOU ALL FOLLOWED THE BLUEPRINTS CORRECTLY, THIS THING IS BUILT TO WITHSTAND PUNISHMENT!”

Before anyone could stop him, he had summoned a red bone and began to swing it at the house, sticking with multiple battering blows. The whole house shook and vibrated as she ducked for cover, but held firm under his onslaught.

“edge!”

He stopped swinging, stepping back to his place by his brother’s side, the bone disappearing as quickly as it was summoned, quite pleased and satisfied.

Nervously, Red stepped forward, “i, er, i also made sure that you still access to the vent baby doll. you should see it up on the second floor.”

She turned and could just see the familiar glimmer of the vents bars from here.

“the door and windows have locks that should hold against us and that can only be opened from your side, so, yer got that too.”

When she didn’t reply, he looked away, shrinking into his hoodie and stepped back.

“SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Papyrus asked brightly, “DO YOU LOVE IT OR DOES IT FALL TO COMPARE TO OUR GREAT FAMILY?”

She broke, crumpling into the floor as she wailed into her arms.

This, was the singlets, nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. The love and care that had gone into every detail. The fact that they had bothered at all, taking into consideration her needs and wants.

And she had been nothing but a jerk to them all week long.

She sobbed even harder.

“OH Y/N. PLEASE DON’T CRY…OR AT LEAST COME OUT HERE SO THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN GIVE YOU A HUG.”

“PLEASE Y/N, COME OUT SO WE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER!"

She shook her head, keeping her face hidden in her arms while her sobs shook her frame.

“come on guys, let's give her some space” Sans mumbled.

“Wait!” she cried out desperately.

Taking deep breaths, she managed to look up from her arms to see all the skeletons looking in at her, concerned.

“Th-thank you” she said sincerely in a shaky voice.

She reburied her head in her arms, unable to look at them any longer, “Than-thank you so much, you-*Hic* you guys- *Sob* you –“ She dissolved into a fresh wave of tears, completely missing the warm expressions on all the skeleton's faces.

 

 Next chapter is called: Larp it up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soo excited for the next chapter! When I first had this idea, the next chapter was one of my original ideas! Oh boy!
> 
> Now, I suck at drawing, but it's something I wish I could do. So, rather than just complain about it, I thought I would ATTEMPT it, to actually try and get better. But what to draw? Why inflict my sad drawings on someone else's work.....
> 
> I know! I'll draw the main scene for the next chapters for all my stories! Yea, and I'll put them up on tumblr in the next few days, that way, even as they hurt people's eyes, people might enjoy guessing what the next chapter might be like? Sort of like a horrible game of Pictionary?
> 
> They'll be on my tumblr and if you have any advice, please let me know!
> 
> Or, if you have any questions/anything really, let me know, okay?
> 
>  
> 
> Oh! And Happy Gyftmas! See you all in the New Year!


	7. Larp it up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I dedicated this story to Tyrant Tortoise and her story, Skelton Squatters and the Land Lady (I know this is the first time out-right stating that, but just always assume that….might make it a permanent feature in these notes from now on).  
> Anyway, kudos to you if you can see the direct references to SSLL and Ty’s work (think there’s about one in every chapter)  
> Oh, and Ty? If you're still reading this, I hope you still like the story and please know I don't mean to steal your ideas. I just want to pay proper homage to the person who got me to this point.

Y/n didn’t sleep.

After the skeletons had said goodnight to each other and her, heading off to their own beds, she had been left alone with her dried tears and thoughts: Was this just a nice gesture or were they hoping she’d take to this house and give up her home? Was this a room for her or an extravagant cage for a pet? Why had they bothered? How did they see her? What did this mean for her personally?

Why had this house affected her so emotionally?

She had long ago stopped exploring the house in private, searching for hints of treachery. When she hadn’t found anything, she had come to the balcony, staring out at the bedroom landing, thinking. From here, she watched as the morning sun took over the light source that her house had provided, bathing the bedroom landing in the morning light.

At some point, she realised, she’d had to accept that the skeletons had simply built this as a gesture of goodwill. If they were hoping to trap her, then the house would have been rigid, which it wasn’t. If they had wanted her house in exchange for this house, they would have said something along those lines, which they hadn’t. If the skeletons saw her as just a pet, then the house wouldn’t have been built to be so independent, which it was.

The skeletons' actions confused her, and she had come to understand that was making her suspicious, trying to desperately see ulterior motives because doing so had been what had kept her free up to this point. Trust had always been met with treachery in some form, so what did she expect to happen if she trusted again?

_'The problem is that I already do trust them, to some degree. Yet, I’m still this paranoid? Do I want to remain this paranoid for the rest of my life, for however long they live here?’_

“MORNING Y/N!”

She looked up and noticed Papyrus and Blueberry in their jogging gear. Edge was behind them, and when she made eye contact with him, he nodded at her, before continuing his stretches.

Now that she was actually viewing them more at an eye level, their jogging outfits were a lot less revealing (although she still felt like their clothes were definitely on the eccentric side).

She yawned, her second wind having kicked in hours ago, “Morning guys.”

Before she could add anything, Blueberry piped up, “SO Y/N, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE HOUSE!?”

“WHAT COLOURS WOULD YOU LIKE?” Papyrus added.

“IS THERE SOMETHING MISSING?”

“WOULD YOU LIKE US TO ADDED ANYTHING?”

“DID THE IDIOTS SCREW UP ANYWHERE?” Edge asked, eyeing the outside of the house with a critical eye.

She laughed, raising her hands to stop the onslaught of questions, “Guys! The house is perfect, there isn’t anything missing.” She eyed Edge, “They did a wonderful job. No faults.”

Edge nodded, then continued to look around, regardless.

She turned back to the other two, considering, “As for the colours.” She looked around her, “I’m happy to leave it as is. I think I rather like it like this.” She turned to face them, beaming, “Thank you guys.”

They all blushed, looking away.

“OH!” Blueberry brightened, the blush quickly fading, “Y/N, DO YOU WANT TO COME FOR A RUN THIS MORNING?”

Y/n shook her head and Blueberry’s expression fell. Edge eyed her meaningfully, but said nothing.

“THAT’S OKAY Y/N!” Papyrus smiled gently, “WE’LL BE BACK SOON AFTER OUR INTENSE FRIENDSHIP MORNING RUN!”

Edge growled, “STOP CALLING IT THAT! IT IS NOT A BOUNDING THING! IT IS AN INTENSE DEATH MARCH, WHERE YOU ATTEMPT TO COMPETE WITH MY SUPERIOR SELF!”

“WOULDN’T WE ONLY HAVE TO DO THIS ONCE IF IT WAS JUST A COMPETITION?” Blueberry asked, smiling smugly at Edge.

Edge spluttered, “WE-WELL OF COURSE! I, ER, WHAT I MEANT TO SAY WAS, AH! YOU PATHETIC FOOLS ATTEMPT TO BEAT ME EVERY DAY!”

“WHAT ABOUT THAT DAY WHEN I-“

“NEVER HAPPENED!”

Papyrus, still smiling, walked downstairs with Blueberry and Edge automatically following him, still bickering.

Smiling fondly after them, Y/n stood up with a stretch, feeling her back crack. Looking back at her house, she thought about the bathroom with an actual working shower she had yet to test.

It was a simple matter climbing back to her old room and fetching the soap bar and washcloths she had been using, up to this point, as her only source of hygiene and cleaning products. After cutting off a more manageable slice off the soap, she entered the bathroom.

Everything in here was only slightly too big for her. Honestly, if she didn’t have her memories of what a bathroom experience use to be like, she would have assumed this was the right size for her. Smiling sadly, she turned on the shower taps.

She giggled when she felt the hot water scold her skin, laughing when she adjusted the tap and the water turned cold. Quickly, she stripped and stepped under the flowing water, making the necessary adjustments so that the water only slightly heated her skin. She stood under the flowing water, letting it flow into her open mouth, soak her hair and watched with giddy glee as it ran off her fingertips.

After she had finished playing with the water, she turned and picked up her soap, reflecting back on how she used to clean herself.

Showers hadn’t been possible for her, and a full bath would have been a waste of water. Instead, she had to wet the washcloth with cool water, using it to lather up the soap, which she then applied to dry skin. Washing the soap off involved wetting a clean corner of the washcloth and whipping herself down. It hadn’t been a fun experience, and she had come to dread having showers in the colder weather.

_‘No more of that. Now I can actually have proper, daily showers again!’_

She could feel her tears mixing in with the flowing of shower’s water, but she quickly scrubbed them away. While she was still somewhat shocked she was getting this emotional over something like a shower, she already knew what the skeletons did for her meant more than she could ever say. Perhaps even more than they themselves suspected.

~*~

After getting out, drying herself, getting dressed and climbing up onto the hall table to wait for the runners to come back, she surprised to see that she wasn’t the only one who was damp.

“What happened?”

Edge glared at her while he wrung out his shirt with both hands. Papyrus and Blueberry had decided to merely taken off their shirts and were currently wringing them out on the porch while it rained heavily behind them.

"WHAT HAPPENED?! WHAT HAPPENED IS THAT WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR RUN, WHEN SUDDENLY THIS RAIN CAME IN FROM NOWHERE!"

She laughed, “Yea, that’s pretty normal for the weather around here.” She looked outside and past him, smiling, “Expect it to rain all day, maybe even a bit tomorrow.”

Blueberry gasped, “BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR SCHEDULE! WE WERE HOPING TO GET ALL THE OUTSIDE PROJECTS DONE BY TODAY!”

She shrugged, “Sorry guys. Guess it’s an indoor-day today.”

The skeletons groaned.

She turned to Blueberry, “Are you going to have a shower before cooking breakfast?”

Blueberry shook his head, “I’LL JUST CHANGE MY SHIRT. BE RIGHT BACK!”

Then he ran off upstairs.

Papyrus turned to her, shirt still in his hand, “IS THAT WHY YOUR HAIR IS WET? BECAUSE OF THE RAIN?”

She ran her fingers through her damp hair, “No. I’ve just come out of the shower.”

“Y/N! WHAT ABOUT BITTIES SHRINKING WHEN YOU GET WET?!”

_‘What’s he talking about?’_

Then she remembered the lie she had told to get out of another, horrible pancake. Laughing, she reassured him, “No, it’s fine Papyrus. Turns out I was wrong about that.”

“ARE YOU SURE?” he asked, his gaze doubtful.

“Positive.”

That seemed to convince him, because he brightened and asked, “CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR THEN?”

The question threw her, and she wasn’t the only one.

“Y-YOU WANT TO TOUCH HER HAIR!?” Edge spluttered.

Papyrus nodded, beaming, “I’M CURIOUS IF IT FEELS DIFFERENT WHEN IT'S WET.”

“YOU’VE FELT IT BEFORE!?!”

Papyrus stepped forward, taking off one of his gloves, “WELL, I DIDN’T GET TO FEEL IT WITH MY HAND BEFORE.”

That didn’t go over well with Edge, whose scowl turned into a thunderous expression, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T USE YOUR HAND!! HOW DID YOU FEEL IT!?!”

Papyrus hesitated, looking at her.

Y/n was equally confused. The only times that Papyrus had a chance to feel her hair was when he had picked her up on the day of the water fight, a few random hand carrying trips and yesterday when he carried her to the kitchen.

 _‘Perhaps he is talking about the water day?’_ She did recall him saying how she tickled him.

Either way, Edge was getting angrier and Papyrus still had his hand out, looking questioningly at her.

She nodded, offering her head.

Papyrus, beaming, eagerly out-stretched a finger, which he used to lightly touch her hair.

Looking at him, shirtless and ever so shy, she couldn’t help but giggle.

He instantly withdrew his hand. “I’M SORRY! DID I HURT YOU?”

Smiling, she shook her head, “No, you’re fine Papyrus. It’s just, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so shy before.” _'Or shirtless, but I won’t say that out loud.’_

Papyrus blushed, looking away.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?”

She turned to see Blueberry, wearing a new shirt, staring at disbelief from the top stairs.

“THE PEST IS LETTING HERSELF BE PETTED.”

She turned to glare at Edge, who met her glare unflinching.

Before she could tell Edge off for his remark, Blueberry piped up “CAN I PET YOU TOO?”

She sighed, looking at Blueberry, “Papyrus wasn't petting me. He wanted to see what my hair felt like when it's wet."

“OH.” He smiled, “CAN I FEEL YOU HAIR TOO Y/N?”

She stared at him, “Why?”

“I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TOO.”

Seeing no reason to deny him, she nodded.

Blueberry ran downstairs, tearing off his glove. When he noticed her flinch at his abrupt approach, he slowed to a stop. Taking a deep breath, he slowly extended his finger, lightly nuzzling her with one of his phalanges.

“DON’T YOU HAVE BREAKFAST YOU SHOULD BE COOKING?!”

Blueberry instantly pulled his finger back, blushing. Lifting her head, she turned to Edge, who looked even angrier than he did before.

Figuring it was because of the double-stranded, she sighed and bowed her head again, “Edge, would you like to feel my hair too?”

Before Edge could respond, Blueberry had whisked her away, running with her to the kitchen. “NO TIME! WE’VE GOT TO GET STARTED OR WE’LL BE LATE!”

“WAIT A MINUTE!”

Blueberry ignored Edge and it took Y/n a few times to get him to notice her tapping his hands, calling “Blue!”

He stopped in the kitchen, looking down at her in surprise. “You can’t pick me up like that! You need to ask me first.”

Gasping, he quickly dropped her on the table. “Y/N! I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO PICK YOU UP…OR DROP YOU JUST THEN!”

Pushing herself up, she looked up into Blueberry’s distraught face. Folding her arms, she looked up at him, crossed, “You need to do better than that. Okay? Ask me next time.”

He nodded, his expression falling, “OKAY Y/N. I’M SORRY.”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” They both turned to see Edge standing in the doorway, glaring.

“COOKING LESSON WITH Y/N?”

“YOU CAN’T TAKE HER AWAY WHEN SHE WAS TALKING TO ME!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO-“

“LIKE HELL YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING!” Edge came into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and folded his arms. “I’M GOING TO SIT HERE AND WATCH YOU, AND MAKE SURE YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING ELSE BY ‘ACCIDENT’.”

“OH, ARE WE ALLOWED TO WATCH EACH OTHER'S LESSONS NOW?” Papyrus quickly entered (still shirtless) and sat opposite of Edge at the table, his head balanced on both hands.

Blueberry huffed “NO! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH!”

Sighing, knowing just how stubborn Edge could be and how she couldn’t ask Papyrus to leave if she couldn’t get Edge to go, she turned to Blueberry. “Just let them watch.” She shrugged, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

~*~

The worst happened.

Okay, so it wasn’t quite, ‘my kitchen’s on fire!’ that had been her first encounter with their ‘cooking’, but it did involve a lot of bickering between Blueberry and Edge, with all three of them offering to ‘help’, causing the whole kitchen to be covered in batter.

At some point, she had given up and had watched the whole show on an overturned mixing bowl that, sadly, was now empty (and not because it had been emptied cooking pancakes).

She vowed to never again, allow any combination of these three in the kitchen at once.

After pancakes had been cooked, Blueberry carried her to the table and the waiting brothers, with Papyrus and Edge following close behind.

“er, why are you shirtless bro?”

Papyrus looked down at his batter-covered ribs, seemingly having just noticed. He looked up, beaming, “IT RAINED WHILE WE WERE HAVING OUR MORNING FRIENDSHIP RUN!”

“DEATH MARCH!”

Stretch leaned back, eyeing Y/n, “how did it go, with all our brothers in there helping you? bet it went quickly with all the helping hands.”

Glaring at Sans, Stretch and Red, who obviously knew better than to let that happen (if their smug smiles were anything to go on), she smiled fakely, “Oh! It was just perfect! Thank you for asking!”

All three of them chuckled and she was pretty sure she just saw Sans and Red high-five each other under the table!

Looking to her breakfast to avoid their smug, knowing grins, she dug into her pancakes. They were okay, but since they were small, she knew her pieces were at least cooked, unlike a few she knew had to be doughy in the middle.

“so y/n, how did you sleep last night?”

She looked up to see Sans looking at her curiously, with every other skeleton waiting to see what her answer was.

“Great!” Beaming, she admitted, “Actually guys, that house is the single, nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” She looked around the room, her smile huge, “Thank you. Really. I don’t think I can express in words how much you guys doing that for me means to me.”

All of their faces blushed and they all looked away, many of them rubbing the back of their heads.

“OH!” Papyrus turned to face her, “IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE CAN GET YOU, ANYTHING THAT'S MISSING? LIKE A BRUSH FOR YOUR LOVELY HAIR?”

She laughed, shaking her head, “No thanks Paps, I’m fine thanks.”

“brush?” asked Stretch, curious, “why that specifically?”

“Y/N LET US PET HER HAIR THIS MORNING!” Blueberry beamed, looking positively proud that he had done so, and ignoring the fact that Edge was glaring at him.

“AND I’VE FOUND A WONDERFUL WEBSITE THAT SELLS ALL KINDS OF THINGS FOR BITTIES” Papyrus added, pulling out his phone.

Red perked up, “really? show us paps.”

While Papyrus slid over his phone to Red and Edge, Stretch looked over at her with interest. “really? mind if i can touch it too y/n?”

“Um-“

Papyrus gasped, “STRETCH! YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN GLORIOUS HAIR TOO?!” His eyes sparkled, “I KNEW WE WOULD HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON!”

“Stop!”

All eye lights focused on Y/n, who was standing up now. She glared at them, “Is that how you all see me?! As some sort of pet you can buy accessories for and pet!” She looked down at her plate, “Is that why you built a house? Is it just pet house to you guys?”

The skeletons gaped at her, before Papyrus and Blueberry leaned in at once.

“OF COURSE NOT Y/N!”

“YOU’RE SO MUCH MORE TO US THAN A PET!”

“NOT TO SAY THAT YOU ARE A PET!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT! EVEN IF PETTING YOU IS NICE, THAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU A PET!”

“WE JUST MEANT YOU’RE WORTH MORE TO US THAN A PET!”

“NOT THAT WE PLAN TO SELL YOU OR THAT YOU CAN BE REPLACED LIKE A GOLDFISH!”

“WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?! YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE WE’RE GOING TO ACCIDENTALLY KILL HER!”

“i think-“ Sans called out, stilling the babble of Papyrus and Blueberry, who appeared on the edge of tears because of the hole they kept digging themselves, “-what they’re trying to say is that we’re sorry kid.” He looked around the room, “we didn’t mean to make you feel like you’re a pet to us.” He shrugged, grinning at her, “we a _paw_ oglise.”

She snorted, sitting back down while Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge groaned. “I’m sorry to guys. I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions like that.” She grinned, winking, “I think you guys are pretty _paw_ some!”

“Y/N! WHY?!” “Y/N! WHY?!” “Y/N! WHY?!”

~*~

Breakfast went smoothly after that. Sans, Stretch and Red continued to exchange pet puns, but Y/n quickly dropped out, unable to keep up with the pun masters (they had grinned when she called them that). Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge ate their breakfast as fast as they could, before taking the dirty plates and heading off to the kitchen to clean the batter from the walls. They all had levelled disappointing glances at her as they left, which she could only shrug too. Funny was funny, and there was something about telling really bad puns and watching their reactions.

Right now, Y/n, Sans, Stretch and Red were listening to the loud clattering sounds of cleaning and arguments over proper cleaning methods coming from the kitchen.

Red winked over at her, “well, yer sure might not be a pet, but if you followed me home, I’d keep ya.”

She grinned, staring Red down. “I’d only be following you because my parents told me to follow my dreams.”

Sans and Stretch spluttered, obviously not expecting that answer, but it was Red’s reaction she found the most entertaining. He stared at her, like it was taking him a few seconds to realise what she had just said. When it finally clicked, he blushed and tried to disappear into his hoodie.

She laughed, eyeing him, “You know Red, you’re always saying these things, but I don’t think you can handle it if someone said them back to you.”

Red sat up, his blush still present. “you think so baby doll?” His grin got cocky, “prepared to put your mouth where your money is?”

“In my pants?” she grinned cheekily.

Red matched her grin, “oh, you’re good. first one to blush or look away, loses.” He leaned in towards her, “and if i win, yer have to give me a peck on me cheek."

She nodded, confident, “And if I win, I want a back massage.”

“best. bet. ever.”

“I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOUR ATTEMPTS AT FLIRTING!”

Edge came strolling out, glaring down at Red. Before Red could reply, Edge leaned down over his brother, who was sweating now, “I’M GOING TO BE CHALLENGING THAT CREAMPUFF TO A GAME OF CHESS AND I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU CONTINUED WITH THIS SAD BET AFTER I LEFT!”

“of course not boss!”

Papyrus walked past the dining room archway (now wearing a shirt), calling back, “I BAGS THE WHITE PIECES!”

Edge looked away from his brother and strolled out, “WHO WOULD WANT TO BE WHITE WHEN BLACK IS THE SUPERIOR COLOUR!?”

“IT IS NOT! THAT’S WHY WHITE ALWAYS GOES FIRST.”

“MAYBE IN YOUR UNIVERSE!”

Blueberry came in, looking disappointed.

“what’s up bro?” Stretch asked.

Blueberry sighed, “i have to wait to play the winner.” He walked out, heading for the stairs.

With a sigh, Stretch pushed himself up. “welp, I’m going to go.” He nodded towards Sans, “tell me who the winner is.”

Sans grinned, “is there really going to be a winner?”

Stretch chuckled and left, following his brother upstairs.

Red pointed to Sans, “ok sans, you’ve just volunteered to be our unbiased judge.”

“i didn’t-“

Red turned to her, “you agree?”

She nodded, preparing herself.

 _‘So, apparently, we’re going to ignore Edge?’_ She was okay with that.

Red grinned, eyeing her lips, “don’t bite your lip baby doll. i wanna be the one doin’ that.”

She quickly took her teeth off her lips.

“I know that milk does a body good, but dam Red! How much have you been drinking?”

Red rolled his eyes while Sans snickered.

“i’m very thirsty sweetheart and yer body is 75% water.” He licked his teeth.

She leaned forward, “That’s how you can tell I’m happy to see you. That, or I’ve just sat in a puddle.”

Sans covered his eyes, “really?”

Red grinned, “baby doll, i’m just like a fire-fighter. i find them hot and leave them wet.”

She fanned herself, “Is it why it’s hot in here or is it just you?” She licked her finger and pretended to touch Red with it, making a "tsst" sound, winking.

“stars!” Sans buried his head in his hands.

“can it vanilla, if you were even half as gorgeous as me, I’d consider sleepin' with ya.”

She almost lost it, her cheeks puffed out as she desperately tried to hold back a snort from Sans’s disgusted reaction to Red's comment.

When Sans reburied his head, Red grinned at her, winking before he indicated his head towards Sans with a questions look. Getting the message, her grin broadened and she nodded, thus sealing the deal with another optimistic tormentor.

Red tapped his skull, “what’s a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?”

She shrugged, “I’m sure I’m a bit cold, seeing as how I’ve been running around there all night naked.”

Red nearly lost it, his eyes quivering and trying desperately to not look away. Sans, meanwhile, had his head buried in his arms, refusing to look up (or judge, apparently).

It took a moment, but Red eventually recovered. He cocked a finger at her, motion for her to get closer. Expecting a trap, she approached slowly. He winked down at her as she sat closer before, “i made ya come with just a finger. imagine what i could do with my whole hand?”

The only thing that saved her was thinking about her Nan naked that one time she had walked into the unlocked bathroom. After she took long, deep, shuddering breaths, she offered her hand to Red, "The name’s skittles. Wanna taste my rainbow?”

Now it was Red’s turn to bite his lip.

Eventually, he shook her hand with his pinkie, “because i have such a package, you could call me-"  One of Red’s eyes disappeared while the other blazed red, “-a one-eyed monster!”

“okay, that’s it, i’m done.”

Sans vanished from the chair, and they both could hear him calling out from the living room, “you two are the worst!”

Y/n ran forward and high fived Red’s waiting hand, both of them howling.

“We did it! I expected him to last much longer than that!”

Red chuckled, wiping away tears, “what? mr vanilla? nah, i’m not surprised.” He looked down at her in admiration, “damn babydoll, you’ve got one hell of a saucy mind there.”

She grinned, “Forget saucy, it’s straight up filthy.” She shrugged, “Between growing up with a dad in the trade industry, going to public school and being a female in the general public, you pick up a few things.”

Red laughed, leaning on a hand and smiling fondly at her, “heh, i’ll say.” He shrugged, “it’s a shame we didn’t settle our bet though.”

She grinned, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

He pushed his head away from his hand, looking down at her incredulous, “what, you really think you could beat me?”

“Oh, I’m not saying you’re not a worthy opponent, but I’ve got a secret weapon.”

Red rolled his eyes, but passively watched her as she made her way to his hand. She lifted his hand, much to his surprise, flipping it so that it so she could caress her cheek with his palm. Looking up at a startled Red, she said sincerely, “But really Red, thank you. This was fun.” She beamed up at him, her grin widening the moment his cheeks burned neon red.

Red vanished from sight.

Laughing, Y/n could barely hear the sounds of what might be Red turning up in the living room and getting questioned by Sans.

She called out to the house at large, “Oh, and I never said the back massage was for me!”

She could hear an echoing groan, furthering broaden her smile.

~*~

With nothing better to do and with it still raining outside, Y/n entered the vent and noted what the skeletons were doing. Sans and Red were watching a sci-fi comedy cartoon show series (well, Sans was watching, Red had disappeared into his hoodie). Papyrus and Edge were well into their chess match, surprising her with how civil they were (or perhaps the word was quiet).

_‘Which just leaves Stretch and Blueberry.’_

Last she had seen them; they were heading upstairs, which is where she headed off to. Sure enough, she heard the sounds of Blueberry talking, coming from the direction of his room.

“FEAR NOT MAIDEN! I SHALL SAVE YOU.”

Y/n stared at the vent bar leading to his room, the only thing stopping her from seeing what he was doing.

She really wanted to know what he was up too, but if she knocked, there was a chance he’d stop or wouldn’t get back into whatever sounded like he was really in to.

Giving into temptation, she quietly pushed the vents open slightly and peered in.

Stretch was leaning back on Blueberry’s bed, smiling fondly as he watched his brother on the floor. Blueberry, meanwhile, had all his action figures out and placed around the room, apparently midway through an epic battle. She smiled as she watched him, his entire self-brimming in enjoyment as he used his magic to move many things at once.

She was just about to knock when she spied something she really wanted; last night’s lollies, placed into a fake chest and up on his desk.

Seeing a way to them and a fun way to pass time, she grinned and left, heading back to the attic for supplies and her sewing kit.

~*~

It didn’t take long; a few blanket stitches and she was back, looking at Blueberry's vent.

Only this time, she knocked.

“Y/N?”

She called through, “Hey Blue, can I come in?”

“OF COURSE!”

Grinning, she turned and left, running for her vent attached to her house. She didn’t have long and she really didn’t want to leave Blueberry hanging, but she also didn’t want him to see what she was wearing till she was ready.

She came out of her vent and jumped down from her house, running towards his door.

“Y/N?”

She squeezed under his door, her now relatively empty bag just managing to follow her. When she looked up, she saw that both brothers were staring at the vent.

_‘Perfect!’_

She bolted for his bookshelves, laying back on the bottom shelf and waited to be discovered.

“Y/N? ARE YOU OKAY UP THERE?”

“Who’s this ‘Y/n’ you keep yammering on about?”

Blueberry spun around, to see her looking out from under her new hood and mask.

“Y/N! HOW DID YOU GET THERE?.....AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?”

Pushing herself up, she approached the action figure with a sword that appeared to be the General of the Army, the one with the most details and moveable appendages.

“No clue why you keep calling me Y/n friend.” She offered the action figure her hand, “The name’s Sneak. Sneak the Rogue.”

“ER…”

She shook her hand impatiently at the figure, “Well? Are you just going to leave a girl hanging?”

Blueberry’s eyes glowed and the action figure was suddenly surrounded by a blue glow. It lifted its hand to her, which she gladly shook.

She grinned, “See that wasn’t too hard, was it?”

“Y/N, WHAT ARE YOU-“

“That’s not my name, friend. It’s Sneak, remember?”

Blueberry sighed, lowering himself back to the floor, “FINE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNEAK?”

“I’m looking for a brave adventurer to help me on an epic quest.”

“EPIC QUEST?”

“Yep.” She circled the action figure, looking it up and down, “And correct me if I’m wrong, but you look like a brave, dashing knight if I ever saw one.”

Stretch chuckled from his sitting up-right position on Blueberry’s bed, a lollypop between his teeth.

Blueberry puffed out his chest, “BUT OF COURSE! NO ONE IS BRAVER OR MORE DASHING THAN THE MAGNIFICENT SANS! MWEH HEH HEH!”

_‘Sans?’_

Eyes trained on the action figure, she asked, “Is that what they call you knight?”

The action figure moved, posing with a hand to its chest and an arm out. “YOU CAN CALL ME BLUE THE BRAVE!”

Smiling, she took its hand, “Oh Sir Brave! Will you help me in my epic quest for treasure and glory?”

Sir Brave knelt before her, holding her hand. Raising her hand to its immobile lips, it looked up at her, “I WOULD BE HONOURED, MY FAIR MAIDEN.”

Blushing, not quite expecting Blueberry to be this into, she looked away shyly.

Sir Brave dropped her hand and stood up, his actions not quite fluid but still impressive. Next thing she saw, Sir Brave had jumped into the air, his fists raised in celebration. “MWEH HEH HEH, THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!” It spun to face her, “WHAT’S THE QUEST?”

She pointed to the desk, “I need help climbing Mt Toohigh. There, we will find the lost treasure.”

Sir Brave nodded, and together they walked towards the desk (Mt Toohigh).

Suddenly, Sneak was flying, pushed aside by a sudden force, the impact not unlike getting hit with a pillow. Looking around her, she saw a plush triceratops pawing at the ground, surrounded by an orange glow. She looked up at the bed and saw Stretch lying upon it, mischief grin under his glowing eye. When he noticed her glaring at him, he winked and pointed behind her. She turned just as the triceratops came barrelling into her, trapping her under it.

With a hand flung out, she called, “Sir Brave! Help me!”

“I’LL SAVE YOU!”

The triceratops nuzzled her, rubbing its chin on her face. With one arm trapped under her, she attempted to push away the smothering folds off her face in annoyance. In response, the triceratops moved more predominately on her face.

“SNEAK!”

The triceratops was shoved off, rolling away across the floor. Being able to see past its colourful felt again, she looked up and saw Sir Brave offering her a hand, which she gladly took.

Pulling her to her feet, Sir Brave turned to face the triceratops, who was back on its feet and pawing the ground again, “STAY BEHIND ME SNEAK, I SHALL VANQUISH THIS BEAST.”

The triceratops threw its head back. “roar”

Y/n spluttered, quickly dissolving into laughter. The deadpan, monotone Stretch used to deliver that line was in stanch contrast to the animated, life-like movements the triceratops was doing.

“BROTHER!”

Still laughing, she looked up to see Blueberry glaring at Stretch from the floor. Stretch smiled and winked at her, using a hand to playfully claw at the air.

“roar roar.”

Holding back more laughter, Sneak turned back to face the triceratops, “Do not be deceived by the beast’s call Sir Brave! It is a trickster beast that we shall defeat together!”

Blueberry looked away from Stretch and returned his attention to Sir Brave, who quickly resumed a blue glow surrounding him.

Sir Brave turned to face her, “TOGETHER?”

She nodded, offering her hand, “Together, questing partner!”

There was a pause where Sir Brave stared at her (not that he could blink, but he sure wasn’t moving), before he shook her hand, “QUESTING PARTNER!”

They turned as one to the triceratops, charging forward with their battle cries.

Sneak leapt upon its back, trying to topple it. Sir Brave was swinging his sword at its face, ducking and diving around the horn. The triceratops backed up, swinging its face side to side.

Seeing Stretch grin from the corner of her eye, Sneak called out “Watch out!”

The triceratops reared up, throwing Y/n off its back. When she pushed herself back up, the triceratops was charging at Sir Brave, who dived out of way in time.

She ran over to him, helping him from the ground. “We need a plan!”

“LIKE WHAT?” Sir Brave turned, watching the triceratops quickly running towards them.

She pulled off her bag, yelling, “Keep it distracted and off me!”

“YOU CAN COUNT ON ME MAIDEN!” Sir Brave readied his sword and ran towards the oncoming triceratops.

Grinning, she found what she needed and quickly put her bag back on. She looked at Sir Brave, who was ducking and diving around the triceratops pawing legs and bucking head, trying to impale him with its horn.

She ran over behind the triceratops, tying one end of the shoelace around its tail. Once done, she quickly ran around it, passing Sir Brave twice. After looping the triceratops twice, she stood behind Sir Brave, who was still fighting the beast.

“Sir Brave! Jump over the rope and help me pull!”

Sir Brave nimbly stepped over the rope and together, they pulled. The triceratops wobbled, and fell to its side. It tried to move, but Sneak and Sir Brave held the rope and it quickly gave up.

“WE DID IT!”

Taking the rope for Sir Brave’s hand, Sneak tied a knot, keeping the triceratops trapped. She was barely done with the knot when she was being lifted into the arms of Sir Brave.

She grinned down, she cheered back, “Yea we did!”

He placed her on the ground, and she immediately hugged and lifted him in turn, spinning his light body around in circles and laughing. She saw Blueberry grinning off to the side and Stretch smiling….with his phone out.

She quickly dropped Sir Brave.

Adjusting her mask, making sure it covered her blush, she cleared her throat, “*Ahem*, Come on Sir Brave, we still have a mountain to conquer.”

~*~

After setting the triceratops free and retrieving the rope (and after Sir Brave had lectured it about ‘respecting personal space’, much to her and Stretch’s amusement and continued recording), Sneak and Sir Brave were nearing the top of Mt Toohigh.

“Hold on Sir Brave!”

“MY GRIP IS SLIPPING!”

Suffice to say, they had both been swept into the drama of the climb, with each of them having needed to ‘save’ the other multiple time now.

Climbing back down, Sneak reached out to Sir Brave, who was dangling from one hand. “Come on! Reach for me!”

Sir Brave looked up at her, “I CAN’T!”

“I can’t do this without you!” Her expression fell, “I need you” she whispered.

Sir Brave hung there. Then, with what appeared to be a tremendous amount of will, he swung up his arm, grabbing her by the wrist. With a strong heave, Sneak flung Sir Brave up, throwing him safely on top of Mt Toohigh.

She followed, pulling herself up and over the final hurdle, to lay face-first down and breathing heavily.

“We made it” she whispered.

Sir Brave jumped up, “WE MADE IT!”

“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?”

Looking up, she saw Papyrus standing in Blueberry’s door, looking at her in confusion.

Blueberry, still sitting on the floor, but much closer to the desk now, exclaimed “WE’VE BEEN ON AN EPIC QUEST!”

“REALLY?!” Papyrus eyes sparkled, looking from her clothes to the other action figures still out on the floor behind Blueberry.

“YEA!” Sir Brave lifted Sneak from the ground and posed with her, “I AM SIR BRAVE, THE BLUE KNIGHT, AND THIS IS MY QUESTING PARTNER, SNEAK, THE ROGUE!"

Y/n asked with a laugh, “Would you like to join us?” Before Papyrus could reply, she threw her head back, a hand to her forehead, “Oh, if only we could find another knight to join us in our epic quest!”

Papyrus seemed to be going through an internal battle, before he briskly nodded. “I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!”

Then he was gone, running downstairs by the sound of it.

Blueberry and Sir Brave turned to face her, “HAVEN’T WE COMPLETED OUR QUEST?” They both gestured to the chest, overflowing with lollies, “WE’VE GOT THE TREASURE. WHAT’S LEFT FOR US TO DO?”

She walked over to the chest, gleefully looking at it.

_‘No way I can carry all this subtly.’_

Picking up a piece, she walked over to Sir Brave, “We’ve still got to carry this back if we want the people of the land to benefit from our heroic deeds.” She looked directly at Blueberry, “Unless you want to stop now?”

Blueberry quickly shook his head, “NO!” He beamed at her, “THIS IS THE MOST FUN I’VE EVER HAD!”

“and i’ve still got a charge on my phone.”

She glared at Stretch, who smiled back at her behind his phone. Pretending he wasn’t there, she offered the lolly to Sir Brave, “Then let us rest here and partake of our bounty. The lost treasure is rumoured to have energy-restoring powers.”

“NOT BEFORE YOU’VE HAD LUNCH!”

Papyrus returned, lifting the chest up and away, to replace it with a small plate of bitty-sized sandwiches. He placed the chest on the top of a nearby bookshelf, before walking over and handing a plate to Stretch and Blueberry each.

“Papyrus! That was my-er our treasure!”

Papyrus gasped dramatically, “LOST IN A MYSTERIOUS STORM, OUR HEROES' TREASURE WAS SUDDENLY LOST IN THE FURY OF NATURE’S CHAOS!” He brightened, “FORTUNATELY, A NEW HERO WAS ALSO SWEPT IN, WHO WISHES TO JOIN THE HEROES ON THEIR QUEST TO, ONCE AGAIN, FIND THE TREASURE!”

Papyrus placed an action figure on the desk, and she recognised it as one that came from his collection.

The action figure was surrounded by an orange glow and no sooner than it had, it was posing with its own sword, “GREETING HEROES! I AM SIR PAPYRUS THE PROUD AND I WISH TO JOIN YOU IN YOUR HEROIC QUEST!”

“WELL MET FELLOW KNIGHT!” Sir Brave strode over and shook Sir Proud’s hand, shaking the whole action figure up and down because Papyrus hadn’t been ready to let his action figure's arm relax.

After Sir Proud had been placed back on the ground, he strolled towards Y/n, “GREETINGS! AND WHO MIGHT YOU BE?”

She looked down at the offered hand, before looking at the chest that was across the room and twice as high as it was before.

Blueberry’s face fell slightly. “I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO KEEP PLAYING?”

Looking down at the one lolly that was the sum of her effort so far, she sighed and placed it into her bag. She would be lying if she said the only reason she was here was the loot now. It had been absolutely fun questing with Blueberry, and with Papyrus….

She strolled forward, “Well meet Sir Proud! I am called Sneak the Rogue, but you may call me friend.”

~*~

After lunch (which consisted of Sir Brave and Sir Proud lifting the same sandwich multiple time to their faces while their owners made over exaggerated munching sounds while eating their own sandwiches behind them), the heroes were off, crossing the vast plains of barren wildness toward Mt Waytoohigh.

“Guys! I can’t go on. You- *gasp* you’ll have to go on without….me.”

Sneak fell to the floor, unable to go on.

“SNEAK!” “SNEAK!”

She was lifted from the ground, a knight on either side.

“HOLD ON! WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”

“DON’T YOU LEAVE US SNEAK!”

“what’s going on here?”

Peering from under her eyelids, she saw Sans standing confused in the doorway with Red right behind him. Edge stood further back, watching, before he turned away and slammed his bedroom door behind him.

“epic quest” Stretch stated, somewhere off to the side, most likely still recording from the bed.

Red scoffed, “sure, like that explains everything.”

Sans walked into the room and beyond her vision, “can I borrow this?”

“SNEAK! YOU’RE AWAKE!”

She looked away from the doorway and realised, too late, she had accidentally opened her eyes fully.

“Er-“ she pushed herself up, “I am recovered! The strength of your words-!”

The sensation of getting hit once again with something pillow-like again stopped her, as whatever hit her sent her flying forward. She was still struggling to push herself up from the floor when two, nub-like plush hands grabbed her and stuffed her in some sort of bag. No sooner was she inside when it ran away, jarring her side to side as she bounced in the bag.

“SNEAK!” “SNEAK!”

“Save me!” she called out.

Unable to see, the sensation of the running stopped. Instead, it was replaced by hardwood hitting her again and again as whatever had her climbed up.

“Ow, ow!” She called out, angrily.

There was a pause, then a flipping sensation as whatever had her climbed up backwards. Sensing an opportunity, she felt for the entrance to the bag and managed to push her head through.

Sans stood grinning by the open toy chest, an eye glowing, Red was leaning in the doorway smiling and Stretch still had his phone out.  Looking to the ground, she saw that she was right about the climbing; the ground and the running figures of Sir Brave and Sir Proud were below her. If she had to guess, whatever had her was climbing the very bookshelf they had been walking too.

_‘Speaking of, what has me?’_

It was furry, whatever it was, grey, had a snout and a tail that swung below her, all of it surrounded by a blue glow.

“WE’RE COMING SNEAK!”

Before she could investigate further, she looked down below her and saw the knights make their way to the shelves, and begin to climb.

The creature that had her pulled itself up onto the top shelf, off to the side of the chest. Pulling a book out, the creature pushed it off the shelf and down towards the knights

“Watch out!”

*crunch*

“Sir Brave! Sir Proud!”

“WE’RE OKAY!”

“YEA! THE BOOK, ER, BOLDER, JUST MISSED US!”

The creature began to pull another book out.

“Oh no you don’t!”

She began to violent twist and turn, trying to throw her weight around and away from the books. She managed to topple the creature over, and she took the opportunity to pull herself out. Before she could stand the creature lashed forward, grabbing her around the waist with its mouth.

With a gut reaching sensation, she was lifted into the air. Looking below her, she saw the creatures arms had opened up an attached pouch below.

_‘Pouch?...kangaroo!’_

Guessing that it planned to drop her in again, she cried “Not again!” and twisted right out of its mouth. She barely had any time to stand, when it was upon once again, nibbling at her sides.

She howled uncontrollably from the ticklish sensation. “St-stop it!” she giggled breathlessly.

She wasn’t the only one laughing, she realised in horror; the sounds of all the skeletons in the room laughing were audible over her own shrieks!

Desperate, with tears in her eyes, she called out, “Sir Brave, Sir Proud, HELP ME!”

“WE’RE *SNICKER*, WE’RE COMING!”

“HOLD ON *SNORT*SNEAK.”

_‘I’d believe you if you could actually say that without laughing!’_

She flayed around, trying to escape the tickling attack, but the creature had cornered her, trapping her in. Just as she started the feel a stitch form and was seriously considering just throwing herself off the shelf to escape, the kangaroo was pulled back and away from her.

Looking, she saw the kangaroo being wrestled to the ground by both Sir Brave and Sir Proud. Pushing herself slowly, one hand clutching the stitch on her side, she looked around for something to trap the monster.

_‘There isn’t enough space to tie it with a rope!’_

Coming up with an idea, she called out, “Sir Brave, Sire Proud! Trap it with the books!”

“HOW!?” Sir Brave called, pulling the kangaroo's arms back from its bucking back.

Running to the far side, and away from the books, she called out, “Start by letting it go!”

They quickly let go, although she wasn’t too sure how much longer they could have held on anyway.

Waving her arms, she yelled, “Over here! Come and get me!”

The kangaroo charged her. Nimble, she leapt to one side and it ran past her and head first into the bookcase. She barely had a chance to look back at Sir Brave and Sir Proud before the kangaroo was up again, trying to grab her. She danced out of its reach, keeping it in the one spot.

From the corner of her eye, she saw two books moving towards her. Smiling, she knocked the kangaroo back into a corner and leapt away. Sir Brave and Sir Proud quickly pushed the books in, trapping it in the corner.

The books moved as the kangaroo attempted to push its way out.

“IT WON’T HOLD!” Sir Proud cried, leaning against a book.

Running back, Sneak pulled another book forward. “Stand aside Sir Proud!”

Seeing what she planned, Sir Proud stepped aside, allowing her to put her book alongside his. While she pressed herself to the book, he called out “I’LL GET ANOTHER BOOK!”

In such a manner, the three companions helped one another apply book upon book, sealing the kangaroo in.

She stood back, looking at the books no longer shook. “I think that’ll do.”

Sir Brave and Sir Proud stood back, also looking at the pile of books.

Leaning on them, Sneak threw an arm of both their shoulders, hugging them together, “And we did it as a team!”

Sir Brave and Sir Proud spun around, cheering and celebrating.

“WE’RE THE GREATEST WARRIORS ACROSS THE LAND!”

“THE TALE OF OUR EPIC BATTLE WILL BE TOLD FOR AGES TO COME!”

She turned to the treasure, beaming, “And the treasure is ours once agi-“

*crash*

The heroes spun around just in time to see the kangaroos claw its way over the top of the books, before many of them fell to the floor or crashed into the space it once occupied. Before anyone could do anything, the kangaroo ran forward, pushing the heroes aside.

Looking up from the floor, Sneak watched as the kangaroo grabbed and stuffed the treasure chest into its pouch.

“No!”

Too late, the kangaroo leapt off the bookshelf.

She ran to the edge, preparing to jump off and follow. Two sets of hands grabbed her, pulling her back.

“IT ISN’T WORTH IT!”

“YOU’LL HURT YOURSELF!”

She turned to look at them, “What do you mean?! Have you already forgotten-“

She stopped herself, realising that Y/n could drop from a bookshelf just fine, but Sneak was on the top of a mountain.

Thinking quickly, she pulled off her bag, fetching her glider. As she put it together, she looked up briefly to see the kangaroo standing in the doorway, looking back at them

Grimacing, she set up the glider, turning to her companions. “Grab a hold of me!”

They hesitated.

“Come on! It’s getting away!”

Sir Brave rubbed the back of his neck, “ISN’T THIS DANGEROUS?”

“It isn’t. Trust me, I’ve done this many times.”

Sir Proud looked over the edge, “WE’RE REALLY HIGH.” He looked up at her, “WHAT IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG?”

“It won’t!”

They stood there, staring blankly at her (what, with their inability to have facial expressions and all).

Sighing, she threw out a hand, “I need you guys to trust me. Please.”

After a moment, they both reached out and grabbed her hand.

Grinning, she moved their hands to either side of her shoulders. With both hands now on the glider and their hands on both her shoulder, she cried out, “Now, don’t let go!”

Then she jumped.

The added weight quickly lowered her quicker than she was used to, but she corrected. As such, when they hit the ground, they hit it hard and rolled, but not as hard as it would have otherwise been.

Pushing herself up from the tangle of plastic limbs, she looked up to see the kangaroo turn and bolt out of the room

“After it!” she cried, leaving behind her glider.

Sir Brave and Sir Proud were quick on their feet, following right behind her.

As she left Blueberry’s room, she saw the kangaroo near Papyrus's door. When it saw her, it took off, running on two large feet in a windmill style, making it look like something right out of a cartoon.

“Pfffffft! HHaaaahaaha haa ha!”

Y/n clung to her sides, pointing at the kangaroo.

“WHAT IS IT?”

“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?”

Unable to saying anything, Y/n shook her head. It took her awhile, but eventually she managed to look up at Sans, who was now standing out on the bedroom landing (along with Red and Stretch, both with their phones out), looking at her confused.

“You-you’ve never.” She took a breath and tried again, “You’ve never seen a kangaroo before, have you?”

Sans shrugged, still obviously confused on what she found so hilarious.

She grinned, “Remind me to take you guys to a zoo.”

Blueberry and Papyrus gasped behind her. Turning around, she saw them crouching behind her with their eyes light up, their hands brought to their mouths in joy.

“YOU’RE GOING TO TAKE US TO A ZOO!?”

“CAN WE GO SOON?!”

“Umm” Realising her mistake, and wishing to distract them and avoid saying no, she pointed wildly to the kangaroo, “Quick! After it before it gets away!”

She ran towards the kangaroo, vaguely aware that she was being followed.

Before the kangaroo (or Sans) had a chance to prepare for her, she dived and managed to grasp its tail.

“Yeah, got you!"

Her celebration was premature, as the kangaroo ran away, dragging her on her stomach behind it.  Before they travelled far, she felt something grab her legs, but when she looked behind her, she saw it was only Sir Brave, with Sir Proud holding his legs.

The heroes were dragged around and around the bedroom landing, their cries and screaming doing nothing to help their cause.

“WHAT IS WITH ALL THIS INFERNAL NOISE!?!”

Like something straight out of a B-horror movie, Edge’s door exploded open and he stood there, with his hands on his hips, as a fork of lighting cracked behind him in the black night sky.

Startled, she let go, and the heroes rolled across the floor, coming to a heap at his feet.

Sneak looked up at his furious face as he leaned down at her, glaring.

“WELL!? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!”

Remembering how much Edge liked flattery, she tried something. Throwing a hand to her face, she cried, “Oh no, what is this powerful feeling? It feels like a mighty power is compelling me to great evil!”

Edge glared up at Red, “WHAT IS THE PEST BLABBERING ABOUT?”

Before Red could speak, she knelt before Edge and continued, “Oh great God of Darkness! I pledge myself to your dark will, to your awesome might, your unwavering handsomeness!”

Edge looked away, blushing, “WELL, I KNOW THAT I AM FLAWLESS IN EVERY WAY.” He posed, “PERFECTION IN MONSTER FORM REALLY.”

“But Dark God! I am unworthy of hearing your voice! If only you could send an avatar, a vessel of your will, then I would gladly serve you for eternity!”

“SNEAK NO!”

“RESIT HIM! COME BACK TO THE LIGHT!”

Edge laughed, throwing his head back “NYAH HAH HAH! BUT OF COURSE, MY LOYAL SERVANT. YOUR GOD HEARS YOUR PATHETIC WISHES AND SHALL GRANT IT AS A GESTURE OF MY GOOD WILL!"

Edge turned and quickly closed the door behind him.

Making it a show, she stood up with a hand pressed against her head. Sir Brave and Sir Proud came over quickly.

“SNEAK, ARE YOU OKAY?”

“WHAT HAPPENED?!”

She rubbed her forehead, “I-I don’t know! It was like a dark storm took over my mind, bending me to its will!” She grasped their shoulders, “Please! Don’t let it take me again! You have to help me!”

“IT'S TOO LATE! NO ONE CAN SAVE YOU NOW!”

Startled, Sneak felt a hand grab and lift her away from the knights. Looking behind her, she saw the smug expression on Edge’s face, grinning as he moved closer to her house. Normally, she would have told Edge off for grabbing her, but she shrugged, deciding this probably counted as an exception.

More gently than she was expecting, Edge placed her on the balcony, before placing his own action figure next to her. Soon a red glow encased it, animating it was it walked over to the balcony. “HEAR ME, PATHETIC MORTALS! I AM THE BLACK KNIGHT, AVATAR OF THE GLORIES DARK GOD. KNEEL BEFORE MY MIGHT!” Lighting cracked in the distance.

“NEVER!” Cried Sir Brave, with Sir Proud readying his sword.

“THEN PREPARE TO DIE!”

Intrigued to see Edge actually playing along, she swooned, hands clasped to her chest as she looked at the Black Knight in admiration, “Oh Black Knight! You’re so powerful!”

The Black Knight laughed, ”SEE HOW YOUR COMPANION HAS ALREADY GIVEN IN TO MY POWER?! GIVE UP, AND YOU SHALL BE SPARED FROM YOUR GRUESOME FATE!”

The Knights had made it to the base of her house and were attempting to climb. Lighting continued to strike in the distance, adding to the ambience.

Sir Brave cried out, “SHE’S ONLY BY YOUR SIDE BECAUSE YOU’VE BEWITCHED HER!”

“HOLD ON SNEAK! WE’RE COMING TO SAVE YOU!” Sir Proud called, waving his sword.

“WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT!” The Black Knight pointed to Red, “SLAVE! PROTECT YOUR MASTER!”

Red nodded with a playful smile, “you’ve got it boss.”

Stretch laughed, his phone still out, “boss fight much?”

Red’s eye glowed and suddenly red bones sprang out of the cabinet, narrowly missing Sir Brave and Sir Proud.

“easy red” Sans warned.

Red rolled his eyes, but the next round of bones appeared slower than they did before. Sir Brave and Sir Proud kept dodging, their words of encouragement to each other barely audible over the Black Knight's laughter and hurled insults.

Sneak gently pushed herself away from the Black Knight, unsure if he noticed her go, thinking.

_‘How can I tie him up?’_

There was no way he wouldn't see the rope, no matter how distracted he appeared to be. She could always just push him off, but she really didn't want to risk damaging the action figure.

Inspired from yesterday, a planed formed as she fetched out her rope again, tying one end to the balcony. With her hands behind her back, she approached the Black Knight.

“My Lord?”

He turned to face her, “WHAT IS IT?! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M HAVING FUN?”

She smiled seductively as she approached him, her arms looping around him.

“I was wondering if you knew what sort of hero I am?” Lighting struck again, louder than before.

He waved a hand at her, “WHY SHOULD I CARE SORT OF SERVANT YOU ARE?”

“Oh, but I think you should know.” She caressed his cheek, “I’m a rouge.”

“A ROUGE?” He moved backwards, away from her and her caress.

She nodded, “and you know what they say about a rouge?”

He shook his head, leaning as far as from her as he could over the balcony.

She brought her face inches from his ear and whispered, “Never trust a rouge.”

She pushed him off the balcony, the rope she managed to tie around his waist holding firm as he swung.

***!BOOOM!***

The lights went out, plugging everyone in darkness with only the occasional flashes of lighting lightening up the area.

There was stunned silence from everyone, before phones were being pulled out to provide light.

“dammit” Stretch cursed, looking down at his flat phone.

Sans, meanwhile, had a different reaction. He quickly looked to Stretch and Red, exclaiming “the generator!” before he disappeared.

Red cursed, and soon his phone light vanished with him.

Stretch put away his phone and turned to the rest of them. He looked nervous.

“guys, we need to make sure this is just a power outage.” He looked around the room, “we need you to be on high alert. call us if you spot anything.”

Papyrus nodded, standing up from his position on the floor, “YOU CAN COUNT ON US!”

Blueberry was already at the window, looking out.

Edge summoned and unsummoned a red bone weapon, apparently for practice.

“What’s going on?” Y/n asked, pulling off her mask and cloak and dropping her bag.

Stretch shrugged, “hopefully nothing. Sans’s just worried that the machine might be fried as it’s plugged directly into the grid.”

That didn't sound right, not with how everyone was acting. But before she could ask any more questions, Stretch winked and was gone.

She looked around, hoping someone would explain “Guys?”

They were really tense, she realised, making it pointless to peruse this now.

Feeling exhausted, particularly after no sleep and a full day of playing, she sighed, “Can someone at least take me downstairs to the living room?”

“WHY?” asked Papyrus, walking over to her, his hand and phone out.

She shrugged, hopping onto his hand, “It’s what I’ve always done whenever I’ve lost power. Sit and watch the lighting and wait for the power to come back on.”

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA!” Blueberry piped up, following Papyrus downstairs.

Edge followed them, if after a brief moment of hesitation.

Walking into the living room, with Papyrus’s phone lighting up the room, Y/n pointed to the window sill, “Just there, thank you.”

Nodding, Papyrus brought her over, allowing her to step off.

“I’M GOING TO MAKE US SOMETHING FOR DINNER.” Edge announced, leaving the room.

“DO YOU NEED ANY HELP?” Blueberry called after him.

“I AM MORE THAN CAPABLE OF PREPARING SIMPLE SANDWICHES!” Edge called back, irritated.

With a sigh, Y/n rested her back on the window frame, watching the sky as lightning forked across it and it continued to rain heavily, enjoying the stormy night.

“I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I SAW LIGHTING.” She turned to see Papyrus sitting on the couch, looking out the same window. She flinched unexpectedly as all she could see were two pairs of eye lights looking back at her, glowing in the dark.

Blueberry nodded next to him, also looking out the window, “I’D NEVER SEEN SOMETHING SO…” he trailed off.

Papyrus nodded.

She looked back outside, “I’ve always watched from this room. It’s relaxing; something about just watching the lighting fork across the sky, the smell of the rain…” she sighed.

“SO WHAT? IT’S JUST WEATHER.”

She looked back to see Edge offering her a quarter of a sandwich, a pile of sandwiches already on the coffee table behind him that Papyrus and Blueberry were helping themselves to.

“Thanks Edge” she said, taking the plate from him with a smile. He quickly turned away.

Shrugging, she looked back out the window, “It’s just weather, sure, but isn’t it cool how nature works? Besides, there’s nothing wrong with sitting back and enjoying the weather.”

Edge sat down in an armchair, a plate of sandwiches in one hand “SEEMS LIKE A WASTE OF TIME TO ME.”

She looked over at him, smiling “Try it.”

Edge rolled his eyes, before he too looked out the window, chewing on a sandwich.

They all fell into a comfortable silence, everyone enjoying the sandwiches and watching the lighting across the sky in the dark living room. Y/n could feel herself edging ever closer to sleep. Nothing quite put her to sleep like the sound of rain on the roof.

“papyrus!” Sans called out from upstairs, startling her from her micro nap. He sounded panicked.

“IN THE LIVING ROOM SANS!” Papyrus called out.

Sans, Stretch and Red suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, looking around. Upon seeing their brothers, they immediately relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief.

“IS EVERYTHING OKAY?” Papyrus asked, concerned.

Sans shrugged, moving to sit next to him, “the power overloaded from the strike. everything’s fine, but we’ll just need to replace a few things in the fuse box, probably get additional generators.”

“a lot of legwork” grumbled Red, grabbing a plate and some sandwiches, before dumping himself in the last armchair.

“not much we can do tonight. looks like we need to wait until morning anyway.” Stretch grabbed some sandwiches and a plate, before dumping himself before Blueberry, throwing Blueberry’s legs over his shoulders.

Y/n yawned, her hands rubbing her eyes.

“ya tried kid?”

She nodded, smiling at Sans, who watched her concerned, “Didn’t sleep last night.”

Sans’s brow furrowed, “thought you said you slept great last night?”

She shrugged, trying to get comfortable and regretting she didn’t bring her bag, “The bed’s super comfortable and the house is awesome” she mumbled.

“then what happened?”

She shrugged lazily, “I don’t know. I was just paranoid about why you all bothered in the first place.”

She missed the looks the skeletons threw each other.

“Y/N, WE-“

Stretch stopped Blueberry, shaking his head, bringing a finger to his mouth.

Red cleared his voice, “babydoll, why don’t you come over here and sit on this cushion?”

She looked over to see him waving a cushion. She waved him off, “I’m fine.” She tried once again to get her shoulder blade to stop digging into the wood.

With a sigh, Red pushed himself up, bringing the cushion right next to her. “you sure about that?”

She reached over and felt it with a hand. It was soo soft. Smiling gently, she brought her other hand over, slowly dragging the rest of herself onto the cushion. “I told you, I’m fine.” She grumbled, curling on her side.

“sure ya are” Red sighed softly, “sure ya are.”

He placed her and the cushion on the coffee table, off to the side of the sandwiches.

 _‘Not that I’m hungry.’_ she thought, thinking back on the quarter she had just had.

Thinking about it more, she raised her head, “Hey Edge?  Thanks for giving me a sandwich with my favourite spread. How did you know?”

All eye lights focused on Edge, who blushed and folded his arms, determinedly looking out the window. “I REMEMBERED WHAT YOU HAD ON YOUR TOAST AND TOOK A CHANCE, IS THAT OKAY?!"

She grinned, nuzzling into her cushion, “It’s fine. Thank you.”

Edge muttered under his breath, his blush still glowing in the dark.

“YOU-YOU MENTIONED HOW YOU LIKE WATCHING STORMS? DOES THAT MEAN YOU PLAN TO STAY UP AND WATCH IT WITH US?”

She looked up to see Blueberry looking at her, hope in his eyes.

“Yea, of course. Why?”

“YOU LOOK TIRED.”

“I’m not tired.” She mumbled.

Sans, Stretch and Red chuckled quietly.

She grumbled at their doubt, looking out the window, “It’s a family tradition to sit here and watch the storm pass when we lost power. So I'm not going till the storm passes.”

“FAMILY TRADITION?” Blueberry asked.

She smiled, “Use to light candles and everything. Spent hours just talking, playing word games and watching the storm pass.” She laughed, “No matter where we were when we lost power, we’d all wonder here, even in pitch darkness.”

There was a long stretch of silence.

“Y/N, WHERE IS YOUR FAMILY?” Blueberry asked, quietly.

“you don’t have to tell us ki-“

“Dead.” she whispered, speaking over Sans.

She could feel the sudden change from everyone, the absolute silence that made even the storm somehow quitter.

She sighed, “Dad died of cancer when I was still in high school and Nan passed a year later from heart failure. A c-“ her voice cracked.

She cleared it and tried again, “A car accident happened three years ago, leaving me with a house and no family.”

“Y/N, I’M-I’M SO SORRY.”

She pushed herself up to see Blueberry in silent tears. Looking around the room, she saw that all the skeletons' expression had fallen, many of them avoiding her gaze.

She laughed awkwardly, “Guys, it’s okay! You didn’t know and it happened many years ago, so don’t worry about it.” She shrugged, settling back into her cushion, “If I didn’t want to tell you, I wouldn't have.”

No one responded.

“Heh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bring down the mood like that.” She pushed herself up, looking around the room, “Papyrus and Blueberry were telling me about their first storms?” She dropped back into her previous comfortable position, “I’d like to hear more about that.”

“WELL I-“ Papyrus started. He cleared his throat, trying again, “THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THUNDER, I THOUGHT IT WAS HUMANS ATTACKING US.”

“certainly made me jump out of my skins” Sans agreed, a grin in his voice.

Papyrus brightened, “LUCKILY, WE HAD FRISK WITH US, OUR HUMAN FRIEND, WHO EXPLAINED THAT IT WAS JUST THUNDER.”

“think my favourite part about the surface is the sky. it’s always changing, with lighting just being one of the cooler changes.”

Papyrus hummed his agreement.

Blueberry chimed in, “WHEN WE FIRST SAW A STORM, WE WERE ALL LIVING TOGETHER, AT THAT OLD CRAMPED HOUSE, REMEMBER EDGE?”

Edge scoffed, “YOUR PATHETIC BABY BONES RATTLED SO HARD I COULD BARELY HEAR THE THUNDER.”

“I WAS NOT SCARED AND I DID NOT RATTLE!”

Stretch laughed, “well, i was and i’ll freely admit that. things were tense back at that place and i was sure it was something exploding again.”

“OH COME ON! THAT HAPPENED ONLY ONCE.”

“more than once edge” Sans corrected.

Blueberry overrode Edge’s angry retort, “I’M GLAD THAT WE LIVE HERE NOW.”

“ME TOO!” Beamed Papyrus.

Blueberry brightened, “THE LIGHTING WAS COOL TO WATCH THOUGH!”

Red scoffed, “cool to watch but horrible to hear. think i was asleep when i first heard thunder. i’ve never jumped so high.”

“WHAT A SURPRISE, YOU WERE ASLEEP!” Edge mocked, sarcastically.

“heh, sorry boss.”

“WHAT ABOUT YOU EDGE?” Papyrus asked

“WHAT ABOUT ME? IT’S WEATHER. I WAS UNIMPRESSED WITH IT THEN, AS I AM UNIMPRESSED BY IT NOW.”

“that’s it? no, ‘this is cool’ or ‘i’ve never seen anything like this before’?”

“THAT’S IT ASHTRAY! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, A POEM!?”

Stretch shrugged, turning to Y/n, “what about you y/n?”

She didn’t respond.

“Y/N?” Blueberry asked again.

Sans turned on his phone’s light, shining the light on Y/n, who had curled up into a ball and was fast asleep.

“oh jeez is that adorable” Red grinned.

All the skeletons nodded their agreement.

“SHOULD WE MOVE HER?” Papyrus asked

Sans shook his head, “best to leave her here for the night.” Papyrus nodded, and left the room.

“besides,” Stretch added, smiling at everyone, “it’s not like we have to go just yet.”

“YEA!” Blueberry piped up, “THE STORM HASN’T PASSED YET!”

Sans grinned, settling back into his seat, “a family tradition” he whispered quietly to himself.

Papyrus retuned with a blanket, placing it gently onto of Y/n, who instinctively brought it closer to her face.

Although the skeletons remained in the room, waiting for the storm to pass before heading off to bed, not one of them could keep their eyes of Y/n’s sleeping face for long that night.

 

Next chapter is called: The End of the First Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let's try something different.
> 
> !!!I'm on Discord, and I'm inviting everyone!!! 
> 
> HERE IT IS! https://discord.gg/cg4p4ps
> 
> Please, bug me!! Talk to me about my stories, tell me about your stories, discuss Undertale lore or, hell, tell me what the weather is like! Point is, I want to meet new people (and tumblr was sort of 'meh')!!!
> 
> I WILL be online at 23:00 Saturday, the 6th of Jan, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 07:00 Sunday,7th of Jan and (UTC), for at least an hour. Use this to figure your times (I had to =)- https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
> 
> I'll pop in and chat whenever I'm online, but these times might become a weekly staple...or changed, who knows?
> 
> Soooo looking forward to meeting you properly and, be warned, I may cry if I hear people saying all the nice things you guys continually keep giving me.


	8. The End of the First Week

The sound of bickering in the distance slowly woke Y/n from her dream about many disgruntled skeletons locked in a cramped room. It took her awhile to remember that she hadn’t actually gone to bed, feeling the cushion under her that she swore she wouldn’t fall asleep on and a blanket resting on her that looked like one of the ones from the lien press.

She stared around her, a blush slowly building as she realised she must have fallen asleep in the middle of the skeletons sharing their storm stories. She thought back on what was the last thing she could remember, struggling to separate what she knew was actually said and what she might have dreamed of.

The only thing she could recall with certainty was that she had told the skeletons about her family being dead.

Perhaps it was a combination of a lack of sleep or feeling nostalgic being in a room filled with people during a blackout and a storm again, but Y/n hadn’t planned to reveal that information to the skeletons.  She had only ever told the courts when she had been asked to justify why she believed she was the rightful owner after becoming a bitty, telling the story of her inheritance to an unsympathetic court. She had felt vulnerable; exposing a deep and personal pain to strangers…and now she had done so again unintentionally.

Or perhaps she simply liked the skeletons and was just reluctant to admit that, even now. Perhaps she had even wanted to tell them.

"IF YOU WEREN’T SO SLOW, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE DAYS AGO!”

The door to the back door opened up with Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge walking inside, each dressed in their casual clothes.

When their eyes meet hers, Papyrus and Blueberry brightened and quickly moved towards her.

“Y/N!” beamed Blueberry, lowering his head so that is rested on the coffee table, “DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE THE CUTEST SMILE WHEN YOU SLEEP?”

Papyrus crouched next to him, looking concerned at her, “ARE BITTIES MEANT TO MUMBLE IN THEIR SLEEP? IS THAT NORMAL?”

Blushing, Y/n threw the blanket over her head and curled into a ball, completely hiding herself from their views.

“Y/N? ARE YOU OKAY?”

“WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?”

“YOU TWO, DON’T IGNORE ME!” Edge’s voice sounded much closer, coming from somewhere way above her. “JUST BECAUSE YOU TWO, AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD THINKS SHE’S CUTE WHEN SHE’S SLEEPING, IS NO EXCUSE TO IGNORE ME OR AVOID DOING YOUR SHARE OF THE WORK!”

Y/n blushed harder.

“DON’T ACT LIKE YOU DIDN’T THINK SO TOO EDGE.” Papyrus chastised.

“YEA! I SAW YOU SMILE LAST NIGHT WHEN YOU WERE LOOKING AT HER TOO!”

Edge spluttered, “W-WHAT! I-I WASN’T- HOW DARE YOU TELL THESE FILTHY LIES!!”

Y/n could feel something poking her side, further prompting her to curl into a tighter ball.

“Y/N?” Papyrus asked, concerned.

She stuck one hand out, waving him off before quickly retreating back into her ball of shame. She could feel the heat coming from her face in waves! Why hadn’t she just gone to bed?! Not only would she not be dealing with this right now but she also wouldn’t have to live with the knowledge that the skeletons had watched her sleep!

That they thought she was cute?!

She buried her head in her hands while remaining under the blanket for good measure.

“I THINK WE SHOULD GO AND GET BREAKFAST READY” Papyrus admitted, his voice further away from her than before.

“AWWW!” Blueberry complained.

Edge huffed, “GOOD! THEN WE CAN STOP WASTING OUR TIME AND YOU CAN BE PRODUCTIVE FOR A CHANGE!”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?” asked Blueberry, mischiefly

“I’M JUST WAITING FOR YOU!”

Blueberry chuckled, his laughter sounded further away.

“YOU DOUBT ME?!” Screeched Edge

“I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING!” Blueberry replied, further still

“THEN WHY DID YOU LAUGH?!”

Y/n poked her head out and watched as Edge’s back walked away from her, towards the kitchen. Quickly looking side to side showed that she was alone for the time being. Seizing her chance, Y/n threw off the blanket and bolted for the vent, climbing back to her house.

After she climbed out and shut the vent behind her, she looked quickly to the balcony, curious to see if the Black Knight was still suspended there. Not only was he missing, leaving behind the shoelace still tied to the balcony, but her glider had been placed by her front door, just under the window.

Smiling, wondering who might have placed it there, Y/n grabbed the glider and repacked it into her bag that had also been left by her door, before turning her attention to her clothing situation while she made her way back to the vent.

She hadn’t bothered to move her things into this place (they remained in the attic), convinced as she had been that this house was just a trap. Now, however, that doubt had been effectively removed and now she was faced with the distasteful task of dragging all her things here. Not to mention the fact that all her clothes were in a pile on her old room’s floor, leaving her with nothing clean to wear because this week had been the single, strangest, most amazing week of her life.

Who could even think about laundry after the week she had?!

She stopped, her hand on the vent.

Had it only been a week? A week since she vowed to do everything in her power to get them out? A week since she hated how powerless they made her feel?

Hell, a week ago Edge had been trying to kill her! Now he got angry is someone even hinted that he thought she was cute?! How in the hell was that even possible?!

Laughing quietly in disbelief, she entered the vent and climbed back to her room, looking around her room before eyeing her pile of dirty clothes.

 _‘Looks like I have to do the sniff test on all my clothes.'_ She thought distastefully.

At least she didn’t have to wash the pile by hand, eagerly looking forward to trying the custom-made, bitty-sized washing machine and dryer when the power was restored.

The fact that she could look forward to such a thing too, was just as impossible to believe.

~*~

“morning y/n.”

Y/n looked out her window to see Stretch peering in, a playful smile on his face. Grinning, she waved back, finishing drying her hair that was still damp after her shower and putting on her cleanest clothes. She moved to the balcony, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Morning Stretch. How did you sleep last night?”

He chuckled, “not as well as you did.”

She blushed, refusing to maintain eye contact. Instead, she watched at Red exited his room, barely rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his clothes haphazardly on. When he noticed her looking at him, he smiled at her, which she gladly returned, grateful for at least one skeleton who wasn’t making her blush this morning.

“heh. anyway, i’m about to head downstairs and wanted to know if you needed the lift?”

Looking back at Stretch, she asked, “Are you offering to be my personal chauffeur?”

Stretch grinned, cocking his arm so that his elbow rested before her and bowed his head slightly. “my lady?” he asked, winking cheekily at her.

Giggling, Y/n looked past Stretch’s amused face to see Red’s hurt one before he quickly turned away and angrily shoving his hands into his hoodie before marching downstairs.

Sighing, she jumped onto Stretch's arm, ignoring his confused expression.

As the pair made their way downstairs, the sounds of the others talking could be heard coming from the dining room.

“-bit late to be worryin' about it now.”

“we can always just ask y/n.”

“Ask me what?”

The skeleton family turned to watch Y/n jump off Stretch’s shoulder and make her way to sit at her table, in between Papyrus and Blueberry.

"Y/N!" beamed Papyrus, offering her a thimble, "WE'RE HAVING CEREAL TODAY BECAUSE THE POWER'S STILL OFF AND WE'VE EATEN ALMOST ALL THE BREAD!"

"PLUS, WE DON'T WANT TO WASTE THE MILK, SO THIS IS PERFECT!"

"Oh." She looked at the selection of cereals before her, wondering if it was even worth trying to eat anything that big or if she should just stick to the milk.

"how's she suppose to eat it?" Red asked, clearly amused.

Blueberry folded his arms in a huff, "SHE'S SUPPOSED TO -"

He stopped, as both Papyrus and himself realised what their brothers looked so amused about.

Sighing, Y/n pointed to the cereal she knew had the biggest pieces in it, "Can someone get me a small spoonful of that please?"

With a lot less enthusiasm than before, Papyrus shovelled out a spoonful of cereal, placing the amount onto her saucer on her table, clearly confused. She picked up a piece, dunkied the cereal piece into her thimble and lett it soften a bit before taking a bite out of it.

"kid, did you want one of us to break that into smaller pieces or something?"

She looked up and saw all the skeletons watching her (again!) in befuddled confusion. Shrugging, she continued to dump and nibble on her cereal piece, "I thought about it, but then who wants to deal with the crumbs and the dust of cereal?" She looked up at Sans, "Besides, without a spoon or a proper bowl, how would I get the pieces out without using my hands?"

"YOU COULD ALWAYS MAKE A BREAKFAST SMOOTHY! BLEND THE PIECE AND MILK TOGETHER TO MAKE A BREAKFAST SHAKE!"

She stared in horror at Blueberry, who had supplied that horrifying answer without any malice or sarcastic tone. He had been completely serious!

Shaking her head softly, she looked sympathetically at Blueberry, "You poor, poor monster."

Blueberry cocked his head to the side, "HUH?"

Laughing gently, she returned her attention to Sans, asking again, "What can you always just ask me about?"

Sans sighed, resting his head on a propped arm, “we're all just worried about intruding in your family’s rooms.” He shrugged, "disturbing their memory and all that."

She looked over at all the skeletons, seeing that concern reflected there. Smiling softly, she said, “Well, while I’m sure you can see why I was upset when we first met-“ many of the skeletons looked away, guilty, “-that isn’t the case anymore.”

She sighed deeply, before she smiled, “I’m glad that you are all living here, glad that this big old house has life in it again. And I-“ she started, clearing her voice, “-I’ve missed having company.”

“you sure kid?”

She shrugged, meeting Sans’s gaze, “Sure as I can be. Don’t get me wrong, I miss them every day, but I’ve had three, very long years to get used to their passing. So while it hurts and talking about this hurts more, I’ve had more than enough time to come to terms that they aren’t coming back. “ She smiled sadly around the table, “Besides, I think I’ve been living here, alone, for long enough, don’t you?”

“OH Y/N!”

Next thing she knew, she was being lifted into and pressed against a bony ribcage. Before she truly understood what was happening, she felt an equally bony rib cage pressing into her back before the room started spinning. Looking up, she saw Blueberry’s face right above her, with Papyrus’s face above him.

“guys? you mind not doing that so close to the table?” Sans scolded, with a hint of mirth in his tone.

Slowly, the room stopped spinning and she looked up at the pair while kneeling on Blueberry’s glove. Their eyes shimmed with unshed tears, their bottom jaws wobbling.

Laughing gently, she patted Blueberry’s glove. “I hope that answers your question?”

“one of them.”

Curious, she turned to see Sans grinning at her. When he saw her looking at him, he shrugged lazily, “we’ve also been wondering for a while which room use to be yours.”

“Oh.”

Jumping off Blueberry’s hand, Y/n made her way back to her table, picking up her toppled chair before sitting on it. Papyrus and Blueberry sat back down, pulling their bowls back towards them.

Grinning, she rested her head on her hand, “well, who do you think has my room?”

"I DO!" proclaimed Blueberry, confidently. "ANYONE WHO CAN PLAY LIKE WE DID YESTERDAY WOULD HAVE THE VERY BEST TOYS IN THEIR COLLECTION!"

She laughed, her hand covering her mouth, "Sorry Blue, it isn't you. You've got Jake, my younger brother's room and Jake's toys, I'm afraid."

While Blueberry's face fell, Sans grinned. "welp, i'm sure that it's not me." He eyed her, "my room has two wardrobes in it, so if i had to guess, it used to be your parents' room?"

She nodded.

Stretch rocked back on his chair, looking up the ceiling. "my room was mostly empty, but it had a strong, herbal smell." He looked back down at her, eyeing her mischievous grin, "so unless fun size here was doing something her parents wouldn't have approved of, i'm going to guess it isn't me either."

"Like you're one to judge, Mr a-packet-a-day." she chuckled when he raised an eyebrow at her, “What, you think I can’t smell the cigarette smoke constantly coming from your room or off your hoodie? Nan was a big gardner and a bigger believer in natural remedies, so I'll be surprised if that smell ever _leaves_."

Stretch chuckled, prompting Edge to huff in iration. "OBVIOUSLY YOU CRETINS HAVE IT WRONG. ANYONE WHO IS THAT PRAGMATIC ABOUT THEIR SURVIVAL MUST HAVE A ROOM WITH ONLY THE BARE BASICS IN IT!" He posed, "THEREFORE, MY ROOM IS THE MOST LOGICAL CHOICE."

"Sorry Edge, it's not you either. You've got the guest room."

While Edge's face fell, the rest of the household turned their attention to Red and Papyrus.

Red shrugged, his arms firmly folded, "my room was just about a bare as the boss's. so while i doubt it was me, it had a few things i would call 'girly'."

"What's girly about photography?" she asked in mild irritation.

Red laughed, "ain't no bloke i know would ever waste film on close-ups of flowers."

Before she had a chance to dispute that, Papyrus spoke, eagerly, "WELL, MY ROOM WAS FILLED WITH A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF TOYS AND POSTERS! I TOOK MOST OF IT DOWN SO THAT I COULD ADD MY SUPERIOR STUFF-" he looked over at Y/n, realising what he inadvertently admitted, because he quickly added, "-WITH THE EQUALLY SUPERIOR STUFF OF WHAT WAS ALREADY IN THE ROOM!"

She laughed, "Thanks Papyrus."

Sans laughed too, before his eyes gleamed, looking over at her, "so y/n? which are ya, the geek or the photographer?"

She huffed, "I wouldn't call myself a geek per say-"

"I HAVE Y/N'S ROOM!?!"

Y/n looked over at Papyrus, his face warped in wondrous joy

She laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head "Hope that isn't a problem?"

"NO! IT'S- WHY IT'S- THIS IS-!" He coughed and closed his eyes, mentally calming himself, before he opened them again to look happily down at her. "I AM PERFECTLY HAPPY WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT."

Y/n laughed, nearly choking on the milk she had been drinking at the worst time. All the skeletons laughed as they watched her whipping away the milk that had escaped through her nose.

After a time, Blueberry sighed and said "CONGRATULATIONS PAPYRUS." before looking away. Then he brightened as an idea occurred to him "OH! Y/N, I WOULD LIKE TO COOK TACOS INSTEAD OF PANCAKES FOR BREAKFAST FROM NOW ON!"

"Aren't tacos more of a dinner and lunch thing?" She asked, unsure if it was different for monsters.

Blueberry's face fell, "THEY ARE?"

She shrugged, "I mean, we can always make breakfast burritos-"

"NO!"

Startled, she looked at Blueberry who appeared to have shouted that entirely involuntarily. Seeing her staring at him, he looked away again, blushing.

"S-SORRY Y/N!"

"I-it's okay Blue" she replied, entirely lost at what she had said to set him off.

"DON'T WORRY BLUE! IF YOU'D LIKE, YOU CAN ALWAYS SWITCH WITH ME?"

Blueberry turned to stare at Papyrus's grinning face in disbelief before his owed brightened

"REALLY?!"

"SURE!"

"WELL, YOU CAN LEAVE ME OUT OF YOUR SWAPPING!" Snapped Edge "WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO COOK SICKENINGLY SWEET PANCAKES DAY IN AND DAY OUT?"

Y/n sighed, "It doesn't always have to be pancakes you know. I know how to cook eggs and bacon too."

"PLUS, BY SWITCHING WITH BLUE, I GET TO BE THE FIRST PERSON Y/N INTERACTS WITH EVERY DAY!" added Papyrus brightly.

"I'M COOKING BREAKFAST FROM NOW ON!"

All eyes focused on Edge, who was still standing up after he abruptly stood up for no reason.

Red looked at his brother, nervously, "um, boss?"

Edge ignored him, pointing at Papyrus, "WE'RE SWITCHING!"

"BUT-!"

"NO BUTS!"

Sans scowled at Edge, "i really don't think you have any right to-"

"No, it's okay Sans. If Edge wants to switch, he can." Y/n smiled sweetly at Edge, who narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her. "After all, I can always start cooking both dinner AND dessert with the person who cooks at night"

While Edge spluttered in disbelief, Papyrus's expression instantly brightened "REALLY?!"

She grinned, "Yep." She looked at the other two cooks, noting their fallen expressions. "Although, I believe it would be a much smarter idea if we switched after a week." She shrugged, "This week, Edge will cook breakfast, Blueberry will cook lunch and Papyrus will cook dinner and dessert IF there's time for it. Seem fair?"

Blueberry nodded eagerly, even as Edge huffed and looked at the wall.

"GUESS THAT MEANS I HAVE TO GO OUT TODAY AND GET THE PERFECT INGREDIENTS FOR TACOS TOMORROW!"

"Tomorrow? Why not today?" She asked, confused.

Stretch finished drinking his bowl, whipping his mouth with the back of his hoodie's sleeve. "we're going out to get a few generators and a few things to replace what was burned out in the fuse box." He eyed her cheekily, "do you remember that, or were you too busy dreaming about handsome skeletons?"

She stared in horror at him. "I did not talk in my sleep!"

Papyrus spoke up, eagerly. "YOU KIND OF DID! THAT'S WHY I ASKED IF THAT'S NORMAL FOR BITTES, REMEMBER?"

She quickly looked away, blushing while noting that she wasn't only one blushing now.

Sans chuckled, smiling at her, "offers there if you want to come along kid. almost everyone is coming."

"Almost?" she looked around the table, "Who's staying?"

"WELL, ME AND BLUEBERRY WERE." Papyrus looked over at a guilty Blueberry, "GUESS THIS MEANS I'LL HAVE TO FINISH OFF THE CLIMBING WALL AND PULL-UP BARS MYSELF."

"SORRY PAPYRUS." Blueberry mumbled, crestfallen.

"DON'T WORRY BLUE! I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVE TACOS AND, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE NOT NEARLY AS IMPRESSIVE A SPAGHETTI, I UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GET JUST THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS. IF I DON'T FINISH BY THE TIME YOU GET HOME, YOU CAN ALWAYS COME AND HELP."

Blueberry raised his fists, his expression brightening, "ABSOLUTELY!"

"so, you interested in coming along?" Sans asked, carrying his now empty bowl to the kitchen.

Finishing off her thimble, Y/n handed her empty dishes to Papyrus before climbing onto his offered hand, jumping off and onto his shoulder when he raised his hand to it. Together, they and the rest of the family carried their own dirty dishes into the kitchen.

While Papyrus, Blueberry worked together to wash the dishes and everyone else dried their own bowls, Y/n sat on Papyrus shoulder, facing Sans.

"No thanks, I'm good. Although I'm not sure I understand why you have to get generators in the first place."

Sans shrugged, idly drying his dish, "i made a dumb mistake and we got very lucky yesterday. the machine should never have been hardwired directly into the powerlines; i forgot to consider electrical storms."

"How much power does this machine need?"She wondered aloud

Stretch laughed, "more than you think."

"so we're going out to get the parts we need to build its own generator."

"I've seen those things; most run of petrol, don't they?" She looked around the room, confused, "I wasn't sure those things would be able to generate enough power?"

Red scoffed, hanging up his towel, "they don't."

"Then why-"

"whoever said we weren't goin' to modify them?"

Stretch sighed, sitting next to Red, now that he had dried and put away his plate, "part of the reason so many of us are going is because we haven't decided which way to go with power sources or what modifications to make."

Edge neatly folded his towel, before turning to face the others, "I STILL SAY THAT WE SHOULD DIRECTLY HARNESS OUR EXCESS MAGIC-"

"BUT THAT WOULD EXPOSE US AND-" Blueberry started, still drying the kitchen bench

"WHO CARES?! I SAY WE PREPARE OURSELVES AND -"

"as you can see kid, we're in a sort of disagreement."

Y/n laughed, "I'll say!" She waved a hand at Sans, "You're just going to have all the fun without me I'm afraid." She stood up and leaned against Papyrus's skull, "Paps and I will have to stay behind, doing all the work by ourselves." She sighed dramatically, "Oh how will we ever manage?"

Papyrus's skull lit up next to her, even as he stood taller. "DO NOT WORRY ABOUT US GUYS! Y/N AND I WILL JUST HAVE TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY TOGETHER!"

The rest of the skeletons did not look happy about that.

Shrugging, Sans moved towards the front door, patting himself and checking that he had everything he needed. Looking back, he asked, one final time, "you sure you don't want to come with us kid?"

She nodded, positive.

Sans shrugged, heading out the front door with most of the skeletons following him out.

"GOOD LUCK GUYS!" waved Papyrus, jostling Y/n side to side on his shoulder with his eager waving.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"

Red flinched, looking up at his brother, whom he had been following out. "going with you to buy generators?" he asked, unsure.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Edge leaned over Red, who shrank into his hoodie, "YOU'RE GOING TO STAY HERE AND BE USEFUL FOR ONCE!"

"b-but boss!"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME!" Edge lifted a pointed finger at Red's face, "YOU WILL STAY HERE, HELP THE CREAMPUFF FINISH ALL THE WORK HE AND THE OTHER CREAMPUFF WERE TOO SLOW DOING-

"HEY!" Blueberry complained

"-AND YOU WILL KEEP THIS PLACE SAFE TILL I'VE RETURNED!"

"Safe?" She eyed Edge, who glared back at her, "Why the sudden concern over safety?"

Edge huffed, "I'VE ALLOWED MYSELF TO BE TOO RELAXED, TOO EXPOSED HERE. WHY, ANYONE COULD HAVE JUST WALTZED RIGHT IN YESTERDAY, IN THE DARK, AND WE WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!"

Y/n sighed, rubbing her eyes, "You do know that you're safe here, right?" She looked up at him, "Besides, what can you really do to make this place safer? We already live in the middle of nowhere."

Edge smiled evilly, "TRAPS."

"Traps?"

He nodded.

"No."

Before Edge could retort, she folded her arms, "I am not allowing you to place traps around this place Edge!"

"I AGREE!" Blueberry added, his own arms folded, "TRAPS ARE THE WORST AND ARE INEFFECTIVE AT CAPTURING HU- I MEAN PEOPLE! NOW PUZZLES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE A FAR SUPERIOR CHOICE!"

Papyrus turned to look at her "A-ACTUALLY Y/N, I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO HAVE SOME PUZZLES AROUND THE HOUSE."

Edge scoffed at Blueberry "PUZZLES ARE FOR BABY BONES AND WEAK MONSTERS! MONSTERS WHO ARE TOO FEEBLE AND PATHETIC TO THINK IN THE INTRICATE AND COMPLEX MANNER REQUIRED FOR THE ART FORM THAT ARE TRAPS!"

"THEY ARE NOT! THAT'S PUZZLES YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT!"

"b-babydoll?"

Looking away from the fight going nowhere, she turned to face Red, who looked uncomfortable addressing her. Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, "i don't know if yer know, but traps and puzzles are very important to monster culture."

"They are?" she asked, looking to Stretch and Sans for confirmation.

They both nodded.

She turned back to the three still arguing, throwing her arms up "Fine, I'll allow traps and puzzles to be placed around the house!"

Before they could celebrate further, she added firmly, "But you have to put a big, eye-catching sign that warns this area in boobie-trapped, some sort of bell so people can call out to the house safely AND all traps and puzzles have to be non-lethal!"

"NON-LETHAL?! THEN WHAT'S THE POINT?!"

"I thought the point was to protect yourself if someone entered?"

Edge narrowed his eyes at her but didn't say anything. Folding her arms, she explained, "Then you should WANT people to stay away. If the warning sign scares them off, so much the better, right?"

Edge didn't reply, instead he continued to glare at her. She glared back at him, unmoved. "Those are my conditions. You can either put up traps and puzzles that follow those guidelines or don't."

"I'LL FOLLOW THOSE GUIDELINES!" Blueberry proclaimed eagerly

"ME TOO!" Papyrus added.

"Edge?"

He threw his hands up. "FINE!" he spat, turning on his heel and strolling out the door.

Blueberry turned to grin at Papyrus, entirely unperturbed by Edge's departure. "GUESS THIS MEANS I GET TO GRAB SOMETHING TO MAKE SOME PUZZLES"

"Nothing too over the top Blue!" Y/n called after his quickly disappearing back

Stretch laughed affectional, winking at her before he moved to follow his brother. "don't worry y/n, i'll try to keep him restrained."

"I really don't like that word 'try' Stretch!"

"we'll be back with lunch," Sans said, moving to close the door behind him. "see ya later guys."

The front door closed, leaving Y/n, Red and Papyrus to hear the distant sounds of the rest of the group arguing who sat where.

Papyrus clapped his hands, startling the other two, "GUESS THIS MEANS WE SHOULD GET STARTED ON THOSE TASKS!"

Red muttered darkly under his breath, but followed Papyrus outside.

~*~

They stood outside in the crisp morning light, the rain having passed in the night with the early sun drying most of the ground. From what Y/n could see, the skeletons had managed to further complete the pull-bars and the climbing wall, with the duelling area already completed, since she had last seen them.

"You guys actually managed to get a lot of work done this morning?" Y/n asked, impressed

Papyrus puffed out his chest, "WE KNEW THAT WE WERE GOING OUT THIS MORNING, SO WE FIGURED WE'D SKIP OUR MORNING RUN AND TRY TO GET THE BACKYARD DONE SO WE CAN PUT UP THE GARAGE TODAY!"

He turned to Red, nervously "SO, UM, RED. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO?"

Red shrugged, uncaring, with his hands in his pockets.

"How about Red get started on the wall while we quickly finish off the pull-bars?"

"we?" asked Red, smirking.

Rolling her eyes, she looked down at Red (secretly enjoying the fact that Papyrus's height allowed her to do so...for once). "Okay, Papyrus can quickly finish the pull-bars, then come and help you. Smartarse."

Red laughed, but headed off towards the wall, the tools and supplies already there. When he saw the tools on the ground, he called back to Papyrus, "next time, you guys need to put away the tools when yer done."

"BUT WE WERE COMING BACK!" Papyrus replied, confused.

Y/n sighed "Even so, can you put them away properly, even if you plan to be right back from now on?"

"OF COURSE!" He looked at her, abashed, "SORRY Y/N."

She laughed, waving him off, "It's just a minor thing, really" She shrugged, "It's not like I expect the tools to last forever."

She didn't understand why Papyrus suddenly looked so sad for some reason.

~*~

The pull-bars were quickly done, with the hard work having already been completed the previous day. As it was, Papyrus was quickly able to join Red over at the wall, who had made decent enough progress.

"How's it going Red?" Y/n asked, still sitting astride Papyrus's shoulder.

Red turned to face them, a hammer raised and several nails held between his teeth. "Hmm?" he grunted with a shrug, before continuing with his strike.

Papyrus beamed, bent down and picked up his own plank of wood, a hammer and several nails. Unlike with the pull bars, Y/n actually saw a way she actually could help, so she eagerly offered, "give me the nails Paps."

Papyrus looked down at the fist-full he had, before looking across at her. "ARE YOU SURE?"

Jumping from his shoulder, she balanced on the topmost wooden beam of the wall before turning to him, her bag held open. Shrugging, Papyrus dumped his fist full of nails into her bag with a smile.

Once Papyrus had struck the nail into the wood, he held his hand open, waiting for another nail. Grinning, she gentle lobbed the nail into his waiting hand, silently impressed with how skillfully he plucked it out of mid-air.

"THANK YOU, Y/N!"

Y/n returned his smile.

When Red bent to pick up his own nails, she called out, "Hey Red, catch!" before gently tossing him a nail as well. With as much skill as Papyrus, Red caught the nail with ease, looking at it in surprise before looking at her inquisitively. When she grinned at him, he shrugged and continued.

So the small group continued, with Y/n occasionally needing her bag to be refilled.

After some time and with the wall nearly completed, Papyrus whipped the non-existent sweat from his brow in between fetching the last plank of wood to cast his eyes over towards the apple tree.

"Y/N, NOW THAT WE SEEM TO BE CLOSER, SHARING FRIENDS-"

"I like to think we've been friends for awhile now Papyrus."

He gaped at her, his hands brought up to his slightly blushing face, "REALLY?! THANK YOU, LITTLE HUMAN! I THINK- WAIT! YOU WILL NOT SO EASILY DISTRACT ME!" he cleared his voice, "AS I WAS SAYING, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR APPLE TREE?"

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, looking over to make sure it was still okay.

"it's got an unusually strong soul." Red added, his focus on the plank of wood he was currently measuring out for cutting.

"Plants can have souls?!"

Papyrus turned to her, confused, "BUT OF COURSE! EVERY LIVING THING HAS A SOUL!"

"the only difference is how complex they are." Red added, dropping his hammer and reaching over for the sander.

"Oh." What else could she say?

Seeing that Papyrus was still waiting for his answer, she shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't know anything about souls, but the story is that my Great-however many generations ago, Grandfather brought this block of land, claiming it was going to be a thriving community."

She laughed, "Obviously, he was wrong." She gestured at the apple tree, "He actually wanted the front of the house to be facing this direction, but every time he tried to get rid of that apple tree, he suffered terrible luck that prevented or delayed his attempts. Eventually, he just gave up and let it be."

Y/n looked back fondly at the tree, remembering, "Nan said that every apple that Great Granddad had was sour or had a big old worm in it. Meanwhile, his wife, who use to sit under it and quietly read, only ever got the sweetest of apples."

She looked back at Papyrus, "I guess trees can hold grudges?"

"that's a weird story." Red commented, not looking away from his sanding.

_'so he was listening.'_

Shrugging, Y/n replied, "It's a weird tree. It once had a lot more blossoms and apples when I was younger, but not that many in the past years."

Papyrus nodded sagely but didn't comment further.

Soon after the wall was completed and, after all the tools were put away, the two skeletons stood awkwardly outside the workshop, each checking and rechecking their phone for a message that might explain what was taking the others so long.

"I think-" Y/n said, looking back at Papyrus's phone for the time yet again, "-it would be a good idea if we went ahead and had lunch."

"have what?" Huffed Red. "with no power, we can't cook anythin'."

"THERE'S SOME BREAD STILL!" Papyrus added brightly. "IT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR BREAKFAST, BUT THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR JUST THE THREE OF US!"

"fuckin swell." Muttered Red, stalking off towards the house. Papyrus and Y/n followed him in silence.

Red had thrown himself into a patio chair, his legs kicked up and resting on the balcony. He completely ignored them as they approached.

Papyrus rubbed the back of his neck, "I, UM, I'LL JUST GO MAKE THOSE SANDWICHES THEN?"

Red didn't respond beyond fishing out a pack of smokes and lighting up.

"Papyrus, I'd like to stay out here with Red."

"YOU SURE?" Papyrus asked, slightly crestfallen

She jumped off his shoulder and landed on the patio table, looking up apologetically at Papyrus, "I'm sure. Sorry Paps."

He nodded, turning and headed inside, his shoulder's sagging.

"im'a gonna get another lecture, aren't i?" Red puffed out smoke, "oh goodie."

"You know, you don't have to default to being a dick when you don't know what to do with yourself."

"who says I don't know what to do?" Red asked, blowing a puff at her.

She waved the cloud away, irritated, "Me. Because I've seen you interact with Papyrus in the company of others before. You've never been this big of a dick to him and I doubt you've changed because you're afraid Sans would give you grief over it."

Red chuckled coldly, "sans would give me shit if he saw me like this."

"Yet I'm guessing you couldn't care less."

Red laughed, looking away from her to stare at the backyard.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes, "Fine then, but it's obvious to everyone that there's something about being alone with Papyrus that upsets you. Even if you can't admit that."

Red continued to ignore her, even as she thought she heard him grunt.

Papyrus returned, balancing a tray of sandwiches on one arm and an armful of condiments, glasses and a water pitcher.

"HERE YOU GO RED." Papyrus offered the bottle of mustard to Red

Red slowly took the offered mustard, staring at it in disbelief "thanks." He looked up at Papyrus, "you know, everyone else in the house hates the fact i drink mustard."

"I DO TOO!" Papyrus sat down, pouring a glass of water for Y/n before sliding it towards her with a straw in it, "BUT I CAN TELL THAT BEING FORCED TO STAY BEHIND HAS UPSET YOU, SO I, THE GENEROUS PAPYRUS, AM CHOOSING TO LOOK OVER YOUR UNFORTUNATE FLAW FOR JUST TODAY!"

Red stared in disbelief at Papyrus, pointedly ignoring Y/n's waggling eyebrows and meaningful head gabs at Papyrus's direction. Instead, he snuffed out his cigarette and unhooked his feet from the balcony, sitting properly at the table.

Smiling gently, Y/n looked over the sandwiches, moving to get a closer look. "So Paps, what have you made us today?"

Papyrus brightened, "I'VE GOT A FEW HAMS WITH SALADS, SOME WITH TUNA (BUT I'M AFRAID TO EAT THAT ONE BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE HOW UNDYNE WOULD RESPOND) AND OTHERS WITH SOME OF THE SPREADS WE HAVE."

Y/n smiled, pointing to a sandwich which most appealed to her. "Paps, can I have a half of this?"

Before Papyrus could cut the sandwich, Red chuckled, looking across the table at her while he rested his head on a hand, "whatever happened to our strong, independent bitty?"

She narrowed her eyes are Red, "What are you talking about?"

Red grinned, turning his attention to Papyrus, "wasn't she, just yesterday, complaining how we treat her like a pet?"

"YES?" Papyrus answered, unsure.

Red grinned, "i think this might be a test. a trap to try and trick you into proving that you don't think she can do it by herself."

"Oh come on! I wouldn't do something like that!" she huffed.

"isn't that exactly what you would say if this was a trap though?"

"HE'S RIGHT!" Papyrus looked sadly down at her, "YOU WERE REALLY MAD AT US YESTERDAY FOR PETTING YOU, SAYING THAT WE MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE A PET!" He smiled bravely down at her, "THAT'S WHY I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU THE SUPPORT YOU NEED AND ENCOURAGE YOU IN A TOTAL, NON-PET-LIKE WAY!"

He cheered, clapping wildly, "GO Y/N! I BELIEVE YOU CAN SERVE YOURSELF YOUR OWN LUNCH!" He looked up at Red, beaming "THANK YOU RED! YOU STOPPED ME FROM MAKING A SERIOUS ERROR!"

"Yea, thanks Red" she glared at him, mouthing, _"I'll get you later."_

Red responded by chuckling, raising his mustard at her. "go on then y/n. i believe in you too. we both believe in you."

"YES! GO Y/N! LIFT THAT SANDWICH!"

Rolling her eyes, Y/n lifted the sandwich above her head, the weight throwing her off slightly, but not so much that she struggled to carry it to her plate.

Dumping it on her plate, she looked smuggle at Red. "There! Now, can I have a hand cutting it into smaller pieces?"

Red handed her a knife, a solid, sterling-silver one that was taller than she was.

 Holding it like it was a pole, she gaped at Red in disbelief. "You're not even going to get me a knife that's my size?!"

"OH! I'LL GET IT!"

Papyrus rose out of his sit, but Y/n quickly stopped him, "Stop! Don't worry about it."

She glared at Red, both of them realising that her knife would only take her longer to cut through both layers. Sighing, she placed the knife awkwardly where she wanted to cut, sharp side down.

It just sat there, the weight not enough to push it into the bread.

Red snorted, not even bothering to hide his amused expression at her expense. Papyrus, meanwhile, continued to cheer her on.

"GO Y/N, GO!"

"it's _knife_ to see you give it your best."

Huffing, she climbed onto the sandwich, balancing the knife between her squatting knees. With a grunt of effort, she pushed her body on top of the knife, pushing it down and cutting through the two layers. Only when she heard the *Chink* of the knife hitting the plate, did she let up. She repeated the cycle again, stopping only when she began to feel tried out.

She rose up and stared stated in disbelief at the minor progress all that effort had made. It wasn't even halfway!

"WOO! GO Y/N! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!"

"yea y/n, don't give up now."

Giving up, Y/n angrily pushed aside the knife and ripped a piece off with her hands.

"WELL DONE Y/N!"

"Papyrus! You can stop now!"

Red clutched his sides and laughed heartily, his and Papyrus's plates having long since been empty as the pair watched and 'supported' her efforts.

"WE'RE BACK! AND WE BROUGHT- WHY DOES Y/N LOOK SO ANGRY?"

She turned to see the rest of the skeletons coming out to the back from the house, boxes of pizza and generator parts being carried and lifted outside with them.

Papyrus beamed, "SHE'S NOT MAD! SHE'S FILLED WITH ACCOMPLISHMENT!"

The skeletons were completely mystified, becoming at an even bigger loss when Red fell backwards off his chair laughing while Y/n threw the knife off her plate.

~*~

While Red, Papyrus, and Y/n had a little of the pizza, they mostly sat back and listened to the others make plans, explaining what was brought and who planned to finished what tasks. Or rather, Y/n listened while Red continued to chuckle every time he caught her eye and Papyrus continued to provide encouragement to the complete confusion of everyone else.

In the end, Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge planned to have the garage put up by the end of today, Sans had been tasked with fixing the fuse box and Stretch and Red would put together the generators to the agreed upon specifics. When Y/n had asked what generators they had agreed too, she quickly realised that they hadn't, but instead planned to make two different generators.

Now she stood by the two monsters in the backyard, pieces of generators and tools scattered around them. The manuals on 'how-to' put together had quickly been cast aside, both monsters scoffing at the idea that they might need them.

What quickly became apparent to her was just how mechanically inclined the skeletons were, which, she realised upon reflection, really shouldn't have surprised her. Her bitty house was a testament to some serious know-how. She envied their skills, bitterly regretting that, even if she was the right size, her dad's workshop would forever remain a waste of tools that slowly gathered dust.

Not that she didn't intend to help however she can. Her original plan of help Stretch and Red by reading the manual aloud to them had quickly been cast aside, but since she knew next to nothing about her own fuse box and she really didn't want to get in the way as Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge building a garage, she decided to remain, bringing along tools and equipment when asked.

"hey y/n, could you pass me a flat 8.2?"

"Ummm..."

Stretch laughed, "the one next to red's knee."

Obviously, she should have gone with Sans.

She hurried over to Red, dragging the screwdriver towards Stretch. Red watched her go, smiling as she carried the heavy tool on her back.

She dumped the tool into Stretch's waiting hand, his attention on a bunch of wires he was currently soldering.

"hey y/n?"

She turned to see Red pointing to a box of bolts. "mind bringing over that entire box for me?"

"Sure, no prob."

Huffing, she lifted the box and carried it to Red, straining in effort with her view entirely encompassed by the box. She dumped the box with a grunt, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"thanks, baby doll."

"fun size? i need the wrench."

"Really?!" She looked over at the toolbox, with heavy looking wrench sitting toward the bottom.

Stretch shrugged, "unless you want to hold these wires while i get it?"

"No, it's fine. I'll get it." The last thing she wanted to do was get involved in that tangled mess he called 'progress'.

Jumping into the box, Y/n struggled to unclip the strong clips that held the wrench in place. Once she had managed to unclip them all, she dug her fingers under the wrench and heaved.

It moved, almost lifting out of place, before her grip slipped and it fell back into place.

Glaring at the offending tool, Y/n reached into her bag and pulled out her shoelace, tying it around the wrench. Shoulder the shoelace, she pulled with all her might.

Inch by inch, it moved forward and out of its custom compartment.

Once it was relatively free, she had to jump outside the toolbox, using the sides as leverage as she pulled with her feet planted on the box's outside. When she had managed to prop it up inside, she jumped back into the box, straining with effort as she lifted and pushed the wrench out.

Gronning, she rubbed her sore muscles as she placed the shoelace back over her shoulder, continuing to use it to drag the wrench towards Stretch. When she looked up, she saw both skeletons grinning at her.

"What's the mat-?"

A sudden realisation hit her as her face exploded into blushing embarrassment.

Angrily casting aside the shoelace, she pointed an accusatory finger at the two laughing jerks, "You jerks can use magic!"

"we*snort* we never said we couldn't" Red chuckled.

Stretch grinned, "we do appreciate the effort though."

She marched off towards the house, leaving behind the chortles of the two skeleton jerks who watched her go.

As she approached the house, Sans walked out, a book under one arm and a pillow in the other. Y/n made for a straight beeline towards him, trying and failing to block out the chuckling behind her.

"everything alright y/n?" Sans asked, looking back at Stretch and Red laughing their coccyxs' off in the background.

"Me? Oh, everything's fine! Just helping out a couple of jerks, being ignorant about magic again." She shrugged, "The usual."

Sans chuckled "how about a nice, relaxing book to take your mind off things?" He waved the book around, heading towards a nearby chair.

Smiling, Y/n called out, "Okay, but how about we make it even better and set up the hammock?"

Sans turned to face her. "you have a hammock?"

Grinning, she nodded. "If you pick me up, I'll show you where it's tucked away."

Returning her grin, Sans dropped the book and pillow on the table before picking Y/n from the ground and lifting her to his shoulder.

Once she was securely sitting, she pointed towards the small garden shed, pleasantly surprised to see Sans so eager.

~*~

It had taken no time for Sans to find and set up the hammock, hooking it up between two poles none of the others had noticed, off to the side and under the shade of the apple tree.

 A gentle breeze drifted over the two as Y/n rested next to Sans's head, laying on the pillow with her feet loosely rest on his shoulder. Sans, it turned out, was a faster reader than her. So after she was done with a page, she would lightly tap his skull and Sans would turn the page. Although, she needn't have bothered, considering she had already read this story.

Deciding she much rather focus on nothing in particular, she stretched with a yawn "Actually Sans, you can read ahead without me."

"you sure?"

"Yea, I'm done."

Sans shrugged and flipped the page.

Relaxing back into the pillow, Y/n lazily looked over at Stretch and Red, still putting together their own generators. In fact, it looked like the two were actually joking with each other, surprising her.

_'Guess they have more in common than I thought.'_

That reminded her that she had a question for Sans.

"You've fixed the fuse box, right? We have power again?"

"yep," Sans supplied, still reading.

"Then I'm surprised you aren't helping Stretch or Red with the generators. Maybe help with the garage?"

Sans laughed. "the garage has more than enough people working on it without me getting in the way. as for the generators..."

He lifted and turned his head, calling out to Stretch and Red, "need any help guys?"

"and have you mess this up and have to start again? no thanks!" Red replied, irritable.

Stretch agreed, "last time you 'helped', you wanted me to start again."

Sans shrugged and lowered himself back into a comfortable position. "see? we're all a bit strong-headed when it comes to doing things our way." He shrugged "the smartest thing to do is to leave them be....even if they are putting the generators together wrong."

"we heard that!"

Sans chuckled and resumed reading.

"Guess I should be amazed that you all managed to work together for my sake." She looked at Sans in disbelief. "How did you all manage to work together long enough to build a small house with fiddle wiring and water systems?"

Sans marked his page before closing his book.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your reading."

He shrugged, "it's not a big deal kid. i rather like talking to you."

She was suddenly very grateful he couldn't see her blushing face from this angle.

He continued "well, credit due to where it belongs; it was actually paps and blue's idea-"

"I figured as much."

"-but we wouldn't have gotten far without edge's blueprints."

"Edge did all that by himself, right?"

Sans nodded. "believe me, we were all surprised. once we had that though, it was easy to separate the work so that each skeleton was responsible for their own section." He chuckled, "knowing these guys as i do, i figured that doing it that way was the only way it was ever going to get done."

"Stretch and Red seem to be getting along just fine." She pointed out.

"i didn't say we don't get along, but if you ever give us a task where we need to find creative and innovative solutions, prepare to have everyone arguing that they have the best method." He turned to look at her, "you saw us this morning. imagine how they were actually like when we shopping."

She laughed, "One of the reasons I stayed home."

_'Not the main reason of course, but still a reason.'_

Sans didn't say anything, but continued to look at her, searching.

"What?" she asked, uncomfortable.

"y/n, when was the last time you left this house?"

"I, er" She looked away. "It's been awhile."

"is it because you're afraid we'd do something to the house while you were gone?"

She sighed, "No, I trust you guys."

"then what is it?"

She lowered her self, till she sat with her knees pressed to her chest. "I'm not sure I can explain it" she whispered.

How could she explain that is was a feeling of emptiness, of paranoia that had nothing to do with the world or even the people around her?

"you don't have to if you don't want to." Sans sighed, "our bros are just worried that the reason is that you don't trust us, that it's our fault you're copped here."

"They've noticed?"

"we've all noticed, or at least we did by today." He laughed, "i have never heard edge so smug before, once i asked the question."

She chuckled softly, imagining a gloating Edge with several skeletons trapped in a car with him. Then she sighed, “Well, it’s not you guys, in any case.”

Sans spoke slowly, "y/n, i know were' still getting to know each other, but i hope you know that if you need anything from me, anything at all, you just have to ask. as a matter of fact, i never did properly set up your bank account so that you could access it. remind me and i'll do it when next i'm in front of a computer. in fact, i probably get you one of your own."

She sat up "Really?"

He chuckled, "i really should have done it sooner. either way, it'll allow you to purchase your own things, instead having to ask us."

Next thing he knew, Y/n was hugging the side of his skull.

"Thank you Sans! Thank you so much!"

"AHEM!"

Looking up, Y/n noticed in surprise to see the rest of the skeleton family standing off to the side, looking quite upset.

Quickly pressing her back against San's blushing cheek, she whispered to him, "I think you've upset a few people by reading instead of helping."

Sans chuckled, still blushing, "i'm sure that they're just jealous."

"Jealous because you're reading a book?"

"something like that." He grinned.

Blueberry coughed again, looking pointedly at her and asked forcefully. "Y/N, CAN I PLEASE TAKE YOU TO THE KITCHEN NOW?"

She pushed herself away from Sans, "What for?"

"I'M COOKING TACOS TONIGHT!" he added, far more enthusiastic than he had been moments ago.

"Oh." She looked past him and saw no objections, (even if Stretch seemed entirely un-thrilled at the idea) "Sure."

Jumping off Sans's shoulder onto Blueberry's hand, she was lifted and placed on his shoulder as he grinned at everyone around him.

"Y/N AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE OUR VERY SPECIAL, PRIVATE, COOKING LESSON NOW!" he emphasised, walking taller as he strolled proudly towards the house.

Confused, Y/n looked back to see the rest of the skeletons leaning closer to Sans, most likely to tell him off for not help. Or at least, all the skeletons but Red, it seemed. Noticing him missing, she spotted him by the workshop, closing the door behind him.

When he noticed her staring back at him, he quickly looked away, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"EVERYTHING OKAY Y/N?"

Turning around, she noticed that Blueberry had made it to the back door, looking at her concerned.

Quickly smiling, she nodded. "It's nothing Blue."

_'In fact, I think I've just thought of a question I have for Red.'_

~*~

Blueberry cooking dinner (or perhaps tacos specifically) was even more energetic and chaotic than usual. It was made more so due to his insistence that he 'knew' the perfect recipe. When she saw him pull out more glitter, she had put her foot down, again insisting that they use 'human' recipes. He hadn't been happy to hear that, but quickly changed his mind when she asked if she was even needed in the kitchen if he wasn't going to listen to her. Not that it completely stopped him from sneaking in glitter whenever he thought he could get away with it.

Dinner consisted of everyone eating the slightly under-cooked tacos, with Stretch actually mouthing the words 'thank you' when Blueberry had been distracted. Grinning sympathetically, she could only imagine what Blueberry's tacos would have tasted like had he been allowed to use the whole tub of glitter like he wanted to.

When Blueberry had pointed out that he had cooked dinner tonight and therefore should be allowed to cook dessert, Papyrus and Edge had quickly argued their point against him and insisting that it should be them.

Realising her mistake, Y/n had proposed a movie night instead, which quickly turned into a slumber party. Papyrus and Blueberry had been overjoyed at the very idea, Edge had reluctantly agreed, citing his distrust with the other two for his reasoning and all their brothers had shrugged, saying that they would probably hang around till the movie was over.

While Papyrus and Blueberry attempted to get a consensus out of the indifferent brothers, Y/n excused herself for the next hour, stating that she would like a shower, get her laundry started, and a few other things before she was ready for the movie/slumber party.

They hadn't questioned her, merely expressing their eagerness for her return.

Once she was upstairs, she quickly stared her washing machine and sent off a text to Red.

 **Y/n-** Red, can I speak to you outside, over by the workshop?

She waited a few minutes, growing more paranoid that Red would refuse to see her. She liked to think that the relationship she had with him was at its strongest right now, even before they both went too far with pranking, but the longer she waited, the more time she had to doubt that Red really wanted anything to do with her.

Just as she was about to forget the whole thing and head downstairs, her phone announced a new message.

 **Hot Pink-** sure.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Y/n quickly climbed up to the attic's window and glided outside.

Below her, she could see Red walking towards the workshop, his hands firmly in his pockets.

"Up here Red!" she called out.

Red looked up, watching her land roof with a roll before she quickly repacked her bag and jumped down to meet him on workshops' window ledge.

He approached her, his face sullen. "you gonna lecture me about staying away from yer workshop? what, didn't want to cause a scene in front of everyone else?"

Startled, she looked up at him in surprise, "What? No, I just wanted..."

She sighed. "Red, I wanted to ask you something"

"what is it?" he huffed.

"Come inside, please?"

Before he had a chance to reply, Y/n slipped passed the window, hoping that he would follow.

After a moment, Red opened the door, the lock having long since been stopped being used after the daily use the workshop was getting. He stood there, determinedly not looking at anything particular with his hands still firmly in his pocket.

"what is it then? you here to make sure i haven't broken or misplaced anything?"

"No" she replied cooly, "I'm going to ask you to help complete my father's chopper."

Red looked sharply up, shocked. "you what?"

She sat down on the ledge, waving an arm towards the once-again covered chopper. "Red, would you please help me complete my dad's last chopper?"

He continued to stare.

"You can say no, you know."

He shook himself, looking away angrily. "why not ask someone, hell, anyone else?"

"I will ask the others if you say no, but" she looked at him and waited for him to look at her before continuing, "I wanted to ask you first"

"why?"

She expected his blatant, disbelieving question, but she hadn't been prepared for how suspicious he sounded.

"This isn't about you owing me if that's your concern. I know that, ever since we had our truce, you've been looking after the workshop on my behalf. Making sure that all the equipment is properly put back."

She bowed her head slightly, ignoring his flinch, "Thank you, by the way, for doing that for me. You didn't have to and yet you did." She straightened, "As far as I'm concerned, we're even."

She jumped off the ledge and walked over to the chopper, struggling to pull off the covers. When she managed it, she looked back at the motor set into a basic frame, well recalling the last few days Dad had been working on it, trying to at least get the motor done.

"Dad would be angry to see this still laying here, gathering rust."

She looked back to see Red closer now, looking over the motor as well.

"Mum was the one who kept all this here." She looked up at Red, "I think it was meant to be some sort of an inheritance for Jake."

"yer brother?"

"Yeah."

She waved a hand around the room, "But when he passed, I never did learn for myself how to weld, so I locked all this up." She shrugged, "It seemed better than just selling it all for money I didn't desperately need."

"now?"

"Now? Well, now I happen to know a few people who just happen to build scientific machines in a matter of days. I saw a chance for closure, so I'm asking."

"y/n, i don't know what yer think the underground was like, but i assure ya, we didn't have motorcycles."

Y/n laughed, her hands hardly containing her dumb chuckles as she pictured a motorcycle driving along natural mountain tunnels. After she had calmed down a bit, she looked over her shoulder and grinned up at him, "I could have guessed that, but what you do have, which I never had, is the mechanical know-how."

She turned to face him fully, "Look, I get that this is a huge undertaking; you'd be learning things just for my benefit. And I'm not saying that you would be doing this for free. Whatever we completed would be yours, to do what you will. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, this motor is yours right now, if you want it."

Red looked surprised, before looked down at her, his gaze searching.

"you still haven't answered my question." He squatted near her, looming over her. "why me?"

She looked away, "Maybe it's because I want to get to know you better, maybe I've hated the fact that we're so awkward around each other and this is my way at trying to fix this, who knows."She looked up at him sternly, "Look, I wouldn't be asking you at all if I wasn't certain you truly regretted toying with me here or if I didn't want to do this with you."

Red sat down heavily, looking between her and the chopper.

"yer serious?" he asked, disbelieving.

She nodded. "If you agree, you can sell whatever we complete. After all, that's why there aren't any other choppers here." She watched as Red looked around the workshop. "Dad always sold his completed chopper so he could afford to buy the next one."

"ter what end?"

"Till his end, I suppose."

There was a moment of awkward pause.

"what about you?" Red asked, looking at her.

"What about me?"

"what will you be doing while I'm doing all this work?"

"What can I do?" she gestured at herself, "If I could do this by myself, I would Red."

"so, you want me to work on your dad's chopper, by myself?"

"Well, not by yourself. I plan to be here to provide vague guidance and somewhat helpful hints." She grinned cheekily, "Oh, and you know, be the eye candy. Someone has to drape their sexy selves over the motorcycle when you're done."

Red smiled, "forget it baby doll. if that job falls into anyone's skill house, it's yours truly."

She laughed, "What, with your flat butt?"

"how would you know that unless you've been eyein' it?"

Blushing and deciding that the best response wasn't to rise to his tease, Y/n instead offered her hand to Red.

"So what do you say? If you help me finish my Dad's chopper, it's yours to do what you will with it."

Red looked from her hand to the chopper, back to her hand. "yer saying that you and I will be working on this chopper till it's done?"

"I know that you're working on the machine in the basement," she added, quickly "but I figured if we come out here at least once a week-"

"deal."

Red shoved his pinky into her waiting hand and they shook on the deal.

He grinned, winking "after all, i want to see you try to drape your bitty self on this thing. we're gonna have ter get you an outfit like them girls on the posters up there."

She looked to where he was pointing, to an outdated calendar with a hot, blond thing posing with a custom-made chopper.

"Forgot Dad had those." she muttered. She looked back up at him, "You know, if we're doing this as partners, then you've got to get yourself a bikini too."

"i see, and this wouldn't be just an excuse to see me out of my pants?"

"You know it bone daddy!"

They laughed together, even as they both blushed at the mental image of the pair of them in matching bikinis. Whipping away her tears, she asked, "Hey Red, can you carry me back to the house?"

"y-you want me to carry you?"

"I-it's okay if you don't want to!"

He stared at her before his face relaxed and he lowered his hand before her. Smiling, she jumped one, holding onto his thumb as he steadily lifted her to his shoulder. Once she was firmly sitting on his shoulder, he took a moment to watch her, before turning to leave.

"you know, you don't react the way i've come to expect humans to respond when they have a bag of bones hit on them." he said as he turned off the lights.

"What, you don't have throngs of people waiting to jump your bones?" They shared a laugh as Red closed the workshop's door behind him, before strolling towards the house. "You should try licking your teeth more" she grinned.

Red chuckled, his laughter the brightest she had ever heard it so far. Leaning into his fur, she added, "Guess I'm immune to it so much because I know it's all in jest. I mean, who would ever hit on a bitty?"

Red stopped with his had on the back door, looking at her concerned. "baby doll-"

"Y/N!" Blueberry opened the door. Before either Red or Y/n could prepare, Blueberry had picked up Red and was twirling him in circles, with Y/n clinging to his jacket's fur.

"OH, I AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOU!"

"get'off me!"

Blueberry placed Red on the ground, before laying his hand before a Y/n still holding onto Red's fur tightly.

"Y/N, COME INSIDE, WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!"

Looking to Red with an apologetic smile, she hopped onto Blueberry's hand. "I thought I told you guys to start without me?"

Blueberry shrugged before he called out to upstairs, "PAPYRUS, I FOUND Y/N!!"

"COMING!"

"Actually, Blue?" He looked down at her stand on his glove, "I need to go back upstairs."

"NO PROBLEM!"

She barely had enough time to cling to his glove before he tore off upstairs, running with the energy of a thousand hamsters on coffee. They ran past Papyrus in a blur of colours, ignoring his befuddled "WHAT THE-?"

In what felt like an instant, Blueberry was gently tipping her onto her balcony, her hair on end.

"I'LL WAIT HERE!" Blueberry proclaimed proudly.

Patting down her hair, she looked back at Blueberry, smiling gently. "Wouldn't it be better to get the best spot?" she waved him off, "I just need to put my clothes in the dryer and I'll be right down."

"ARE YOU SURE?"

She nodded.

"WELL, IF YOU'RE SURE..."

He ran back downstairs, yelling, "NO ONE HAD BETTER BE IN MY SPOT!"

Smiling at his energy, Y/n quickly entered her house and transferred her wet, clean clothes into the dyer, humming in delight when she saw that they were already cleaner than they had been in ages.

As she grabbed her bitty-sized blanket, she thought again about how different this week had been. Not just with the addition of monsters in her life, but the complete 180 her attitude towards people living in her life had taken.

_'If only I could show them that. Show them how different I've become and how much I'm looking forward to them living here.'_

Suddenly, she knew the perfect item. Smiling gently, she walked over to her vent and climbed back to her old room to fetch it.

~*~

"Before we start the movie, I have something I'd like to give."

Y/n had managed to walk out from the living room ground vent and manoeuvred passed the sea of blankets and pillows that Papyrus and Blueberry had turned the floor into. Now she stood on the coffee table and faced the skeletons, who watched her inquisitively, with her hands behind her back.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around the room "When we first met, I didn't like any of you." She looked away, "You were intruding on my house and I was powerless to stop you, and I hated how helpless that made me feel." She looked back at them, "But then I got to know you all better and I actually started liking you guys, and I've found myself rethinking a lot of things. But the one thing I've decided, I can show you guys by giving you something."

She offered the cloth behind her back to Papyrus, who was closest. He slowly plucked the cloth from her hands and unfurled it as the other skeletons moved in closer to look at it.

"IT-IT'S THE HOUSE-MATE GIFT WE MADE FOR YOU?"

Blueberry looked at her, tears in his eyes. "YOU'RE GIVING THIS BACK TO US? DOES THIS MEAN YOU DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF OUR FAMILY?!"

She gasped, looking around the room and noting all their fallen expression in horror, "What!? No!" She waved a hand at the cloth, "That's a cross-stitch, right? 'Welcome to our Home', yes?" They nodded, their expression still sullen, "Then it's meant to hang at the front wall of the house, so when people first walk in, they can see who's in the family!"

They stared at her and Y/n could feel herself regretting this idea already. Looking at her feet, she mumbled, "Looking, I can keep it in my house, if you want. I just thought it'd be nice where everyone can see it. That's all."

The next second, the coffee table was flipped as both Papyrus and Blueberry threw themselves at Y/n, tears in their eyes.

"Y/N!" they sobbed together

Confusion quickly ensured as Sans, Stretch, Red and Edge attempted to pull Papyrus and Blueberry away from the coffee table in a failing mass of limbs. Y/n, meanwhile, had been flung across the room and was standing back on the carpet, laughing her bitty butt off as the mass of skeletal limbs twisted, with constant shouts ranging from overjoyed and moved to tears, to distressed concern to exacerbate yelling.

She saw the eye light of Blueberry focus on her, because the next thing, he had thrown off the skeletons on top of him and ran towards her

"Y/N! I'M SO- OMMPFF!"

Stretch had managed to grab Blueberry's ankle from within the mass he was still entrapped in, causing Blueberry to fall with his arms out, inches from her. "bro, stop! you'll accidentally hurt her!"

Blueberry stopped reaching for her, and the pile behind him separated into the separate skeletons again.

"I WON'T!" Blueberry huffed, not looking at her.

"are you sure?" Stretch asked, not letting Blueberry's ankle go.

"OF COURSE YOU IDIOTS WILL!"

Edge picked himself up from the ground, striding towards her. When he crouched and allowed her to step onto his hand, Edge carried her over to his armchair, before sitting down once again, dumping her on his armrest. "YOU TWO ACT FAR TO IMPULSIVELY! YOU'RE LUCKY SHE WASN'T CRUSHED BY THE COFFEE TABLE!"

Papyrus and Blueberry gapped in horror at Y/n.

"Y/N, I'M SO SORRY! I-"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I SW-"

"Guys!"

Y/n waited for Papyrus and Blueberry to quieten down, watching as Sans, Stretch and Red made their way back to their seats, rubbing their bruised (wait, skeletons can get bruise spots?! )limbs. When they had managed it, they sat on the floor and looked up at her, their expressions utterly regretfully.

Smiling, she asked, "How about a hug instead?"

While they gapped at her, she turned to Edge. "How about it? Want a hug?"

Edge stuttered, folding his arms, red blush exploding across his face. "N-NO! W-WHY WO-WOULD I EVER WA-WANT A STUPID H-HUG!?"

Smiling, she gently patted the crook of his elbow, before jumping over to Red.

"How about you biker chick?"

"biker chick?" Stretch whispered to Sans, confused.

Red grinned, "from you baby doll? any day" He lifted her to his shoulder, where she jumped off and hugged the side of his face. Before she ended the hug, Red had licked his teeth with the tip of his tongue touching her arm.

"Gross!" she complained, whipping the glowing red slime off and onto his cheek.

He only responded with a deep chuckle, a light, red blush across his cheeks.

Running across the couch, she ran onto Stretch's shoulder, her arms open wide.

"Hug Stretch?"

Chuckling, he nodded. When she hugged him, he brought a hand over, cupping her back and pressing her more tightly against him.

"I never did thank you for saving my life Stretch. Thanks, by the ways." She whispered into his cheek.

He laughed, "you also haven't thanked me for saving you from blue-"

"HEY!"

"-but i'd have done it anyway for you, fun size."

Blushing, Y/n quickly pushed away and hurried to the edge of the couch, leaping to reach Sans in the last armchair. Sans sat with his hands hidden in his hoodie, not quite meeting her eyes.

"Would you like a hug Sans?"

He closed his eyes and chuckled, a blue blush across his cheeks. "you sure know how to handle us, don'tchya kid."

"What?" she asked, unsure she had heard him correctly

He shrugged, "nevermind." he opened an eye at her, "i'd love a hug kid."

Smiling, she hugged his side tightly. With an idea, her smile turned cheeky as she pushed back and asked "Sans, you purr?"

He spluttered, "w-what?!" He looked around the room to see all the skeletons looking at him in disbelief, "i wasn't purring!"

Red chuckled, "well, would ja look at that; vanilla actually purrs."

Stretch fist bumped Red, "guess that's different."

Sans shrank into his hoodie, grumbling as Y/n leapt into the waiting hands of Blueberry, still on the floor.

He smooshed her into his cheek, both hands pressing tightly her to him as he hummed.

"B-Blue!" she gasped

"OH! SORRY!" Blueberry pulled back his hands, allowing Y/n to feel her smooshed face. Beaming up at him, she hugged his thumb as tightly as she could.

"Thank you for welcoming me into your family Blue."

He blushed his namesake, before reluctantly passing her off to Papyrus, who sat next to him with his hands held up in eager anticipation. As she slid into his hand, Papyrus lifted her to his face, gently pressing her to his cheek with both hands and nuzzled her.

Laughing, she hugged him back, as tightly as she could. "You to Paps."

After the bone under her arms had turned into a lightish pink, Papyrus gently lowed her back onto the coffee table, that had been rightened sometime after she had been flipped from it.

With all the feels out of the way, she turned her attention to Red, some unsettled business to attend to.

"Now Red, about that back massage."

Red stiffened, but it was Edge whos reaction everyone else was watching. He jumped from his chair, glaring at his brother in fury. "WHAT?! ARE YOU TELL ME THAT NOT ONLY DID YOU IGNORE MY DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS, BUT YOU ALSO LOST!?!"

"Easy Edge, not too many people here can say they've won a bet against me, can they?"

Edge sank back into his chair, muttering curses under his breath.

Grinning, Y/n looked at Red visibly sweating, who was watching her look between him and his brother. When he firmly caught her attention, he mouthed the words _"don't you fucking dare."_ at her.

She thought about it. Thought about it really hard.

On the one hand, she owed Red for the stunt at lunch.

On the other hand, he had agreed to help her with Dad's bike.

With a change of plans and grinning evil, she casually asked, "I think Stretch is looking pretty tense, don't you?"

_'Payback for the wretch, Stretch!'_

Stretch, however, shrugged and turned away from Red on the couch, leaning forward. "lower back, if you wouldn't mind red."

Grumbling, Red threw her a dirty look before he turned and gingerly rubbed Stretch' back, determinedly keeping as far away from his spin as he could.

Stretch groaned "oh yeah, right there. that's the spot."

Red threw his hands up into the air and away from Stretch "okay! i'm fuckin' done!"

 Y/n fell back laughing so hard she couldn't tell which of the other skeletons were laughing just as hard as her. By the time she had recovered, Red was sulking on his side on the couch and had nearly disappeared into his hoodie, pointedly ignoring Stretch, who was inching his way closer to Red with every second.

Edge sat back, looking smugly at his brother. "SEE WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU MAKE STUPID BETS?"

Red muttered darkly, throwing Y/n another dirty look for good measure.

Beaming, Y/n clapped her hands and proclaimed "Okay! Let's get this movie started already!"She grinned at all the skeletons sitting around, noting how they all appeared settled in. "I think we've waited long enough by now, don't you?"

 

Next chapter is called: Getting back to the Basics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are! The last day of their first week! I hope that I've established how they meet and got everyone on a friendly level with our Bitty. 
> 
> From now on, I'll be exploring different things, but they probably won't be full days. What this means for the chapter lengths, who knows, but I'm looking forward to using different tropes and scenes to establish the building relationship the skeletons will develop with Bitty Y/n!
> 
> It's been a trek and a half, but I've never felt more accomplished!  
> See you all in February and on Discord (if you feel like bothering me=)!
> 
> !OH!  
> Man! This update cycle was harder than usual, and I think a big part of that is, as I get more readers, I'm getting more anxious? If you had told me that something like that was even possible, that I could get even more anxious, I honestly wouldn't have believed you. Not without asking if drug were involved.
> 
> Anyway, so, I'm still on Discord, and I've made being on for at least an hour, twice a week (2300 (UCT) Saturday and 0700 (UCT)Sunday) a permanent thing. So please, come chat! I'm still eager to hear from you. You'll also find hints about the next coming chapters to all my stories of there as well, so....there's that.


	9. Getting back to the Basics

Y/n giggled as she looked down at the front porch, where Papyrus was currently standing, scratching his head. With a shrug, he turned and entered back into the house.

After tightening the elastic waistband around her waist and checking that the other end was securely anchored, Y/n, once again, jumped from the second story window. With a quick grab, she clung to the front door’s doorbell again.

*Ding-Dong*

Keeping back her snickers, Y/n let go of the doorbell and sprung back up, latching back onto the second story's ledge. Once she safely pulled herself up, she looked over and down the ledge in time to see the front door open again.

Papyrus walked out again, but this time he looked side to side.

“HELLO?” he called out, “IS SOMEONE THERE?”

Y/n covered her mouth, trying to keep silent.

Papyrus rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Bringing a hand to his mouth to amplify his voice, he called out in an exaggerated tone, “WELL, I GUESS THERE’S NO ONE HERE! OH WELL, GUESS I’LL GO BACK AND CONTINUE WITH MY EXERCISES!”

He waited for a reply. When he didn’t get one (that he could see, what with Y/n above him, still struggling not to laugh), he entered the house, closing the door behind him. Just as Y/n was standing and preparing to jump again, however, the curtains by the front window were pushed aside and Papyrus's beady eyes appeared peeking just over the ledge, watching.

Snickering, Y/n took a moment to collect herself, before throwing herself off again.

*Ding-Dong*

“NYEH!” Papyrus cried out in frustration, his eyes boggling in opposite directions.

“PAPYRUS!” Blueberry’s voice called out from within the house, “WHY AREN’T YOU ANSWERING THE DOOR?!”

“I’M TRYING! BUT THEY KEEP DISAPPEARING!” He tone became noticeable more suspicious. “I SUSPECT SOMEONE’S PLAYING A JAPE OF ME”

“A JAPE YOU SAY?...LET ME GO CHECK SOMETHING.”

With a start, Y/n loosed the elastic around her waist and left behind her bungee system. Running back inside, she climbed up to her house as fast as she could, quickly leaping over the balcony and running upstairs. She had just managed to dive under her blanket when she heard Blueberry arriving on the bedroom landing.

“Y/N? ARE YOU AWAKE?”

She didn’t trust herself not to smile, so instead, she grumbled into her pillow. “Five more minutes.” She complained, pretending to be half asleep.

“I’M SORRY Y/N! I’LL-UM, I’LL JUST LET YOU GO BACK TO SLEEP.”

The sound of his footsteps walking back downstairs told Y/n it was safe to leave.

Quickly making her way out of the house and back to the window ledge and re-tieing herself back into her bungee systems, Y/n listened in as Blueberry reported back to Papyrus.

“IT’S NOT Y/N. SHE’S STILL HAVING HER SLEEP IN.”

“REALLY?” Papyrus sounded disappointed, before he sounded frustrated, “BUT WHO ELSE COULD IT BE?! WHY DOES THE DOORBELL KEEP RINGING?!”

“MAYBE IF WE SET UP A STAKEOUT, WE’LL CATCH THEM IN THE ACT!”

“I DID THAT, BUT THEY STILL GOT PASS MY IMPENETRABLE DEFENSES!”

“WELL, THEY WON’T GET THROUGH MINE!”

Blueberry appeared in the window, his own beady eyes peering out over the top of the window's ledge. Soon, Papyrus appeared next to him, so that two sets of paranoid eye lights watched the front landing.

Biting her fist to keep back the laughter that was moments from breaking loose, Y/n took a couple of deep, shuddering breaths before jumping off again.

*Ding-Dong*

“NYEH!” “MWEH!” The pair cried out in frustration, both of their eyes boggling now.

“HOW ARE THEY GETTING PAST ALL OUR PUZZLES?!”

“WHY CAN’T WE SEE THEM? DID Y/N EVER MENTION GHOSTS?!”

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO IDIOTS DOING?! QUIT PLAYING AROUND WITH THE DOORBELL!!” Edge’s thoroughly irritated voice rang clear through the entire house.

“IT’S NOT US! SOMEONE KEEPS RINGING OUR DOORBELL AND DISAPPEARING!” Blueberry exclaimed.

“WHAT RIDICULOUSNESS IS THIS!?! GET OUT MY WAY!”

The front door slammed open and Edge strolled out, a red bone weapon in his hand.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON, BUT IT STOPS NOW!” He looked around the landing, peering into the nearby bushes. “AND IF I FIND OUT IT’S A CERTAIN PEST-“ Y/n snorted before she could stop herself, “-SHE WILL LIVE TO REGRET TOYING WITH ME!”

His point made, Edge turned on his heel and slammed the door shut behind him.

“THAT ISN’T GOING TO-“

“SHUT UP!”

Edge ripped open the curtains, his arms folded as he scanned the front yard. After a brief pause, Papyrus and Blueberry stood on either side of him, their arms folded too, watching.

_‘Oh, this is too perfect!’_

Grinning with anticipation, Y/n lept off once again.

*Ding-Dong*

"NYEH!", "MWEH!", "NYAH!"

All three skeleton's eyes boggled, their arms thrown up in exasperation and frustration.

“THAT’S IT! I’M GOING TO KILL HER!”

Startled, Y/n ran for her house as fast as her little legs could carry her. She knew she was racing Edge, Papyrus and Blueberry, if the sound of running was anything to go on.

“EDGE, STOP! Y/N STILL ASLEEP!”

“LIKE HELL SHE IS!”

“SHE IS! I JUST SAW HER!”

“IT HAS TO BE THE PEST! WHO ELSE THINKS PRANKING US LIKE THIS IF FUNNY?!

“IT COULD BE A GHOST?”

“A GHOST WITH NO SOUL WE CAN SENSE?! REALLY?!”

Y/n had just managed to arrange herself under her blankets when she was bathed in red light. Figuring that she really would have woken up by now for real and trying desperately to keep her face relaxed, she yawned and stretched, rubbing her eyes as she turned to her bedroom window with the open curtains.

“Moring Edge” she said grinned sleepily, looking into the red eye light that peered back at her.

The eye light further narrowed in suspicion. “MORNING…PEST.”

She walked over to the window. “What do you think I’ve done now?”

Edge stood back, allowing Y/n to lean out of her window, smiling sweetly at the trio of skeletons that greeted her in their exercise clothes.

Edge huffed, “YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT A CERTAIN DOORBELL RINGING WITH NO ONE THERE?”

She placed a hand on her chest, her face wounded. “Me, Edge? Never!”

Edge glare narrowed further as Blueberry strolled forward, his hand out to carry her. “SEE EDGE? I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T HER! Y/N'S BEEN HERE, ENJOYING HER SLEEP IN.”

“Yep.” She grinned, hopping on to Blueberry’s hand.

“THEN WHY DOES SHE APPEAR TO BE IN HER NORMAL CLOTHES, SINCE SHE ‘JUST’ WOKE UP?” Edge asked, glaring at her in distrust as she moved to Blueberry’s shoulder.

Papyrus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “YOU KNOW, THAT IS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION.”

Three sets of eye lights focused on her, suspiciously.

“Um…I slept in these clothes?”

“REALLY?” Edge drawled in disbelief

"what's all the noise about?"

The four turned to see the last three remain skeletons exiting their bedrooms, rubbing the sleep from their eyes or haphazardly pulling down their shirts over their heads.

"what's going on now?" Red asked, irritable.

"THE PEST WAS PLAYING WITH THE DOORBELL AND WON'T ADMIT IT!"

"Edge, how would I even be able to reach the doorbell?”

"YOU FOUND A WAY!!"

"argh, whatever!" grumbled Red, making his way downstairs, muttering curses under his breath.

Stretch walked over to Y/n and Blueberry, leaning in closer with a wink. "well, that's a _ringing_ endorsement if i ever heard one."

Sans walked over too, grinning "i'd _chime_ in, but i'm afraid it wouldn't bode _bell_."

"ARGH! IT'S TOO EARLY FOR YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS!" Screeched Papyrus.

"YEAH! WE'RE LEAVING!"

Blueberry turned to walk downstairs, only to be stopped by Edge's restraining hand on his other shoulder. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" He asked, eyeing him.

"I'M GOING DOWNSTAIRS?" Blueberry asked, confused.

"edge." Warned Stretch, his grin gone.

Edge ignored him. "NOT WITH THE PEST YOU DON'T! WE HAVE OUR COOKING LESSON IN THE MORNINGS THIS WEEK, AS WELL AS YOU KNOW!" He removed his hand from Blueberry's shoulder, levelling it out before Y/n. "HAND HER OVER."

"got to hand it to edge, he's more _handsy_ than i ever suspected." Sans snickered, meeting Y/n eye questioningly.

"carefully, we already know our hand puns can really get out of _hand_." Stretch replied, still eyeing Edge carefully.

Y/n looked at Edge's face tighten in barely restrained anger to Blueberry and Papyrus groaning in frustration. Shrugging, figuring that she was relatively safe with Edge and with no argument she could make against it without raising suspicions, she jumped onto his hand.

Edge raised her to his eye level, glaring at her, before moving her to his shoulder. He turned to the remaining skeletons. "WELL? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HEAD DOWNSTAIRS ALREADY!"

Reluctantly, the rest of the skeletons moved towards the stairs, all of them throwing question glace at Y/n and paranoid looks at Edge.

When he was the last one upstairs, Edge whispered under his breath to her, “I KNOW IT WAS YOU.”

“Edge,” she gasped in shock, “I’m surprised you would accuse me of dishonesty! Besides,” she lowered her voice, grinning, “Where’s your proof?”

Edge stopped on the ground landing, gaping at her in disbelief before his expression returned to a glare.

“WHY MUST YOU PURPOSELY ANTAGONISE ME PEST?”

"I thought that's what worth opponents did?"

Edge chuckled darkly. "AND YOU DO IT SO WELL." He threw a glance over at her, "I WILL NOT FORGET THIS Y/N. I SWEAR, I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS MORNING'S ANNOYANCE."

Y/n laughed "Could you sound any more like a cartoon supervillain?"

Rolling his eyes, he continued to walk towards the kitchen.

As they walked into the kitchen, they could hear the sounds of Papyrus and Blueberry debating in the kitchen.

"-WHY BOTHER WITH INVISIBILITY MECHANISMS WHEN TIME-BASED PUZZLES ARE OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR?"

"BLUEBERRY, I AGREE WITH YOU ON A GREAT MANY THINGS, BUT YOU'RE FAILING TO RECOGNISE THE INGENIOUS AND INHERENT BRILLIANCE OF PUZZLES THAT REQUIRE AN AMAZING MEMORY!"

Y/n and Edge entered the kitchen to see Blueberry and Papyrus sitting on opposite sides of the small kitchen table.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO FOOLS DOING IN MY KITCHEN?" Edge yelled, glaring at the two with his arms folded.

Blueberry waved a hand towards the direction of the dining room, “OUR BOTHERS ARE STILL MAKING TERRIBLE PUNS ABOUT BELLS!”

Papyrus then gestured towards Blueberry, “THEN BLUEBERRY SPOUTED SOME VERY UNINFORMED OPINIONS ABOUT USING BELLS AS A PUZZLE MECHANISM AND-“

“EXCUSE ME!?” Blueberry stood up. “YOU CAN NOT JUST WRITE OF CLASSICS LIKE THAT AND EXPECT SOPHISTICATED MONSTERS (LIKE MYSELF) TO STAND IDLY BY!”

While Papyrus gave egotistical retort about his own intelligence, Edge scoffed and moved towards the fridge, fetching the eggs and bacon. Y/n, meanwhile, listened in to the two’s debate, rather surprised to see these two disagreeing about anything. Papyrus and Blueberry normally got along quite well.

_‘I guess even people who get along really well can find something they disagree on.’_

“ARE YOU GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN TODAY’S COOKING LESSON OR NOT?” Edge asked, irritable.

Y/n spun around, facing the direction of the stove. “Sorry Edge.”

In truth, Edge had improved considerably since his first-morning cooking (although, anything was better than black eggs and bacon.) However, despite his improvements, he was still nowhere near the level she could trust him to cook without, yet again, burning the meal. If Papyrus was too excited when cooking, flinging food on the walls and Blueberry had little patience to actually let food cook, then Edge either didn’t have an eye for food cooking colours or else got easily distracted that what food was cooking usually ended up burnt.

For example; even though he was pointedly ignoring Papyrus and Blueberry debating behind him, he was clearing listening in, scoffing or nodding as each new point was made.

Eventually, Y/n asked "Not going to weigh in here Edge?" gesturing to the two behind her.

He scoffed and continued to flip the eggs and bacon. "WHY WOULD I BOTHER FORMING AN OPINION ABOUT WHICH OF THE BABY BONES PRODUCES THE BEST PUZZLES, WHEN TRAPS ARE OBVIOUSLY THE SUPERIOR CHOICE FOR SUPERIOR MONSTERS? AND NO ONE PRODUCES BETTER TRAPS THAN THE TERRIBLE EDGE," He glared at her, "EVEN IF I AM FORCED TO ADHERE TO UNREASONABLE RESTRICTIONS!"

Y/n shrugged. "Anyone can excel when there are no restrictions, but I personally think only the brilliant can excel within them."

Edge gapped at her, his mouth hanging as he stared at her in disbelief.

"Edge, the bacon's burning." She pointed out.

Cursing, he quickly flipped the bacon, steadfast refusing to look at her as a vivid blush took over his cheeks.

*Ding-Dong*

All three skeletons looked to her.

Y/n folded her arms. “You can’t blame me now! I’m right here!”

*Ding-Dong*

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE BELL BY THE FRONT GATE.” Papyrus looked out the front window. “IT A HUMAN WEARING SHORT SHORTS.” He turned to face the rest of the room, “I THINK IT’S ONE OF THE HUMANS THAT GIVE YOU THINGS. PRESENTMEN.”

“Postmen.” Y/n corrected. “They give you letters people send you or packages you’ve ordered.”

Blueberry’s eyes lit up as he piped up, “I’LL GO GREET THIS HUMAN, BUT I'LL NEED HELP!”

Before anyone could stop or argue with him, Blueberry had jumped up and whisked Y/n from Edge's shoulder, running with her from the kitchen and out of the house.

"HEY!" bellowed Edge after them.

"Blue!" Y/n yelled, muffed by his glove.

Blueberry stopped in the front yard and looked down at her in his hands. "OPPS! SORRY Y/N!" He quickly raised her to his shoulder.

Y/n climbed onto his shoulder, quite upset "How many time must I say stop grabbing me and-why are you dancing?"

Y/n train thought was completely thrown off track as she clung to Blueberry's shoulder as he ducked and dived around the yard, slowly inching his way towards the front gate.

“I’M *HUFF* TRYING NOT TO *PANT* ACTIVATE ANY OF THE PUZZLES OR TRAPS!”

“What puzzles and traps?” Y/n asked, looking around the empty front yard. “I mean, I saw you guys set them up, but I figured you had taken then down or moved more into the surrounding woods.”

“YOU CAN’T SEE THEM?” Blueberry asked, looking over at her while balancing on one leg.

“No?” she answered, double checking the area again.

“SUCCESS! IT SEEMS THE OTHER TWO ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUALITY PUZZLES AND TRAPS THAT CAN BLEND SEAMLESSLY INTO THE LANDSCAPE AFTER ALL! PERHAPS THERE’S HOPE FOR THEM YET!”

Rolling her eyes, Y/n pointed to the footpath she had been sure to make the skeletons keep free of puzzles and traps. “Why not just follow the path?”

Blueberry stopped. He looked over at her, almost pityingly, “BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE CHEATING Y/N.”

“Isn’t avoiding activating the puzzles and traps already cheating?”

“IT’S NOT CHEATING! IT’S EXPLOITING THE FOREKNOWLEDGE I HAVE ABOUT WHICH PUZZLES AND TRAPS ARE SET UP AND WHERE TO MY ADVANTAGE!”

“But-“

“HELLO POSTMAN HUMAN!”

The Postman jumped as Blueberry pressed himself to the bared fence, just off to the side of the front gate. “H-Hi” he stuttered, entirely unprepared to be greeted from any direction that wasn’t the gate.

Grinning, Blueberry scaled the fence, with Y/n clinging to his bandana as the centre of gravity changed quickly with his moment. By the time they were back on the ground, the postman had backed up several steps, his electronic tablet held up to his face.

“Did I- did I ring the bell wrong?” He asked, gesturing towards the sign looming over another doorbell.

Y/n quickly looked to the sign, making sure it was still there.

The big, eye-catching sign had been a relucent addition on the part of the puzzle and trap setters, but after Y/n had insisted and their brothers had encouraged them to agree, Papyrus and Blueberry had made sure to make it as eye-catching as possible. Neo-colours, glitter and be-jewelled, this sign was the same size of an A1 sheet and even had its own, sun-powered lights.

She had to give them credit; no one could make something more eye-catching than Papyrus and Blueberry.

“No, you’re fine.” Y/n turned to the postman, smiling gently. “My friend here just gets overeager sometimes.”

Blueberry puffed out his chest proudly. “THAT’S RIGHT! I’M Y/N BEST FRIEND!”

She laughed. “You’re certainly my most magnificent friend.”

While Blueberry gasped at Y/n, his fist held up to his face while his eyes wrapped into stars, the postman was leaning in for a closer look at Y/n. “Oh! You’re one of those smart, small human-like pet things I see monsters keeping sometimes!”

**“SHE IS NOT A PET!”**

The postman flinched, and he wasn’t the only one. Y/n had never heard that tone of voice ever coming from Blueberry, never saw him without his expressive eye lights that left his sockets a black void, vacant of any of the warmth she had grown accustomed to seeing.

The effect was quite chilling.

In a flash, Blueberry was back to his old self, his expression irritated but at least expressive. “SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR US TODAY POSTMAN HUMAN?”

Quickly, the postman held out a letter and a parcel as far as his arm would stretch. Unperturbed, Blueberry gleefully grabbed them, his face hopefull as he read the names but sagging when he didn’t see his.

“I-I just n-need a sig-signature.”

Blueberry looked up to see the postman holding out his tablet with shaking hands. Sighing, Blueberry grabbed the tablet and quickly signed, after Y/n explained what he needed to do. When the postman held a hand out to take the tablet back, Blueberry pulled it back.

“LOOK, I’M SORRY THAT I SCARED YOU POSTMAN HUMAN, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T SAY SUCH HURTFUL THINGS ABOUT BITTIES.” He wagged a finger at him, “BITTIES ARE NOT MONSTER’S PETS, THEY ARE OUR WARDS AND Y/N IS AN ADULT, NOT A CHILD, SO SHE’S NOT EVEN OUR WARD.” He stood tall “SHE’S OUR LANDLADY.”

Blueberry handed back the tablet to the staring postman, “REMEMBER THAT THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE ONE!”

Before the postman had a chance to reply, Blueberry had torn open the front gate and was running back towards the house via the main path, leaving the gate to swing shut behind him and Y/n to question a few things she thought she knew about Blueberry.

Blueberry rushed through the front door, entering the dining room as Papyrus and Edge placed the final plate of eggs and bacon on the table. “MAIL!” He called happily, looking down at the letter and parcel he carried. “I HAVE A LETTER FOR SANS.”

“ah, thanks blue.” Sans grinned, taking the offered letter from Blueberry. He looked up at Y/n, “this’ll be the internet access for the bank account i set up for you y/n. after breakfast, wanna see me and we’ll get this sorted?”

Y/n beamed. “You bet! Thanks Sans.” He blushed, tucking the letter into his jacket while Stretch chuckled, for some reason.

“AND WE HAVE A PARCEL FOR RED!”

Red stopped leaning back in his chair and sat up a little straighter. Reaching for it, he took the parcel from Blueberry and read over the return address.

“ah! good timing!” Red looked up to see everyone watching him curiously.

“whatchya get red?” asked Stretch, leaning in for a closer look.

Red grinned. “a large order of ‘nanya business’.” He turned to Sans, tucking the parcel into a jacket’s pocket. “i’m gonna work in the lab all day today so that i can get tonight off and tomorrow morning. deal?”

“sure.” Sans answered slowly, eyeing him.

Nodding in satisfaction, Red moved to serve himself breakfast, blatantly ignoring all the strange looks he was receiving around the table.

Not the only one confused, Y/n jumped off Blueberry’s shoulder and made her way over to her spot in between Papyrus and Blueberry, sitting at her table before her saucer plate that already had a serving of egg and bacon on it. Everything was on the burnt side of things, making her further regret that she hadn’t remained with Edge to monitor his cooking.

Sighing, Y/n picked up her utensils and began to cut her bacon into manageable sizes.

Or rather, she tried.

“Edge, how often did you flip these?” She asked, looking over at him.

Edge rolled his eyes. “THE PERFECT NUMBER OF TIMES. QUIT CRITICISING!”

“I have to be critical because, unlike some, I don’t have shark-like teeth to cut through the tough texture that you’ve cooked this bacon too!”

Edge and Red stared at her, before both grinned and snapped their teeth at her.

Rolling her eyes, Y/n abandoned her bacon and instead moved her attention to her egg.

“Papyrus? Can you help me pour that sauce onto my plate?” she asked, pointing to her desired condiment bottle.

“SURE!” Papyrus picked up the bottle and began to slowly tip the sauce onto her plate. “SAY WHEN.”

“When.” She said, smiling.

Today wasn’t the first day they had eggs and bacon, and it wasn’t the first day she had asked for help with pouring it either.

 _‘But it is the first day that I’ve pranked the favourite condiment bottles of the three condiment drinkers!’_ She thought, looking up at them. Sans, Stretch and Red had each of their personal, favourite condiments in front of them. Trying to keep her face neutral, she watched as, at different times, each raised and drank from the tampered bottle, with baited breath.

Nothing happened.

No spluttering, no cursing.

No reaction.

Disappointed, Y/n shrugged and dug into her own egg, dipping the pieces into the sauce on her plate.

Instantly, she knew something was wrong! Not only was the sauce a combination of ketchup, honey and mustard, she could tell each had been laced with flour….not unlike what she had done to the rigid bottles!

Spitting out her mouthful, Y/n reached desperately for her drink, skulling the content in one go. By the time she recovered enough, she looked up to see three celebrating skeletons hi-fiving each other as their brothers watched on in confusion and annoyance.

“What did you do to my sauce!?” she exclaimed.

Sans smile grew. “nothing that you hadn’t already done to ours kid.”

“How did you know?” she demanded, still trying to clean her tongue.

Red grinned smugly at her. “babydoll, it was fairly obvious you were going to prank our condiments eventually.”

“as soon as our brothers complained about a mysterious doorbell ringer,” Stretch smiled, leaning back in his chair, “we knew a certain prankster was up to her no good tricks again.”

“you could say kid,” Sans looked over at her over his entwined fingers, “we’ve sort of been expecting you.”

Y/n laughed. “Okay, okay! I know when I am beaten.” She bowed to each of the three skeletons. “Well played sirs.” They beamed, quite pleased with themselves.

A thought occurred to her. “Wait, then what were you guys drinking from? I thought I got the only bottles you drink from.”

As one, Sans, Stretch, and Red pulled a bottle from within their jackets and hoodies with a smile.

“always a good idea to keep a spare handy.”

“PLEASE!” Blueberry huffed in irritation, “YOU’VE ALWAYS KEPT A BOTTLE IN YOUR HOODIE, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I TRY TO STOP YOU!”

“You keep condiment bottle on your person?” Y/n asked in disbelief.

“YES! OUR BROTHERS ARE GROSS AND KEEP A BOTTLE OF THEIR DISGUSTING OBSESSION IN THEIR FILTHY JACKETS!” Edge screeched, looking heatedly at Red, who shrank into his jacket. “IN FACT, I THINK IT’S TIME FOR LAUNDRY!”

“I AGREE.” Nodded Papyrus, looking over Sans with a critical eye. “TODAY JUST BECAME WASHING DAY!”

Blueberry eagerly nodded his agreement.

“aww.” complained Sans and Stretch while Red muttered darkly under his breath.

“Laundry?” An idea occurred to her.

Once breakfast was over (Y/n left the sauce well alone), Y/n excused herself from the table and made her way back to the attic. Jumping into an old box that marked her nan’s clothes, Y/n found the perfect item for pranking, stuffing it into her backpack. As she made her way back to the vent, she spied a bottle of flowery essential oil. Grinning, she brought it along for good measure.

By the time she made into the basement, she saw that a load of washing was already in the washing machine, with a second basket filled with dirty clothes ready to go. Perring into this basket, she noted that it looked exclusively like Red’s and Edge’s things. Looking through the washing machine’s window, she could clearly see Sans’s jacket and Stretch's hoodie. Grinning, she opened the washing machine and quickly emptied her bag’s latest addition into the machine before closing it. Next, she turned her attention the Edgy duo’s basket, fished out what was probably Red’s sock before dumping all the essential oil on it. Giggling, imagining that Red and Edge’s reaction to finding out their clothes now smelled like a basket of flowers, Y/n hid the sock in one of Red’s jacket’s pockets.

Her pranking tasks completed, she left the basement and went looking for Sans.

~*~

“what’s the joke kid?” Sans asked, turning around at his computer to face her in the air vent.

_‘He looks smaller without his jacket’_

Y/n jumped down, landing on Sans’s bedroom floor. She looked up at him, making her way over to him and his desk. “What, me?” She shrugged, “You know, pulling pranks, making skeletons blush. Just the usual business.”

Sans chuckled and lowered his hand, allowing her to climb on as he lifted her to his desk. “as long as i’m not that skeleton, who am i to stop the bitty mastermind?”

“Thanks Sans. Knew you would support me in my evil endeavours.”

Y/n turned her attention to the computer screen, noting that Sans had entered most of the details in on the bank’s website. “Ms Skeleton?” She asked, looking away from her account’s name and to him in surprise.

Sans shrugged. “do you remember a few days ago when you kept asking why stretch was wearing lipstick and false eyelashes?”

“Yes.” Y/n replied slowly, “And you and him avoid my questions by bombarding me with puns about make-up and ‘getting in touch with your feminine sides’?”

Sans laughed, gesturing back at the screen. “the bank wanted photo evidence for opening a new account.”

“They accepted a photo?”

“nah, they wanted to take a photo of ms skeleton, so…”

“Are you telling me,” Y/n started, realisation dawning on her, “that Stretch went to a bank in drag and he is now my official face with regards to any physical interaction with this bank?”

Sans rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly “hope that’s okay. monsters have pretty light regulation because we’re so physically different. and with our-“

Y/n busted out laughing, collapsing to the table top in a fit of giggles. The mental image of some poor bank teller staring agape at Stretch winking through make-up was the funniest mental image she could have possibly thought of. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if it had been either Red or Edge, scowling the entire time.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to notice that Sans had been laughing with her, his head resting on a hand as he watched her gasping for air. Pushing aside her remaining mirth, she instead looked to the computer, hope in her eyes. “Oh please tell me there’s a photo!”

Sans shook his head. “sorry kid. that photo remains securely in the bank’s security system and the memories of a select privileged few.”

She looked at him. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what was he wearing.”

Sans laughed, “kid, i don’t know what you think about us, but i assure you we don’t have boxes of women’s clothing laying around. “ He shrugged, “a different coloured hoodie and jeans, if i recall. hopefully that means, if you ever need to go in for whatever reason, you can hide behind stretch’s head in a hoodie and tell him what to say.”

Y/n stared at him, at a loss for words.

“what?” Sans asked, growing uncomfortable under her gaze.

She shook her head in amazement, “You guys are just….thank you Sans.” She grinned at him, “Why didn’t you go as Ms Skelton?”

Sans laughed, “i tried, but i left quite an impression as my regular self that i never got a chance.”

“What did you do?” She whispered in amused horror.

“apparently humans form a very vivid memory of you if you’re a walking, punning skeleton who greets people with a whoopie cushion gag.”

Sans pushed himself up from the computer and walked over to his bed, picking up a book off his nightstand before laying on the bed. He briefly looked over at her as he turned to his marked page. “i’ll just be here if anything crops up. feel free to change the passwords and make sure all the details are correct. all the money we’ve paid you for rent should be in there.” He looked up from his book. “i’ve also ordered in custom computer parts that i’m hoping to use to build a bitty sized keyboard and mouse, but it’s taking time to get here. so until that happens, feel free to come see me anytime and i’ll lend you the use of mine whenever you need it.”

Y/n watched him for a few minutes, before shaking her head and turning back to the computer.

“Thank you Sans.” She whispered, quietly to herself.

Sans smiled behind her.

~*~

After she had finished entering her password and checking the details, Y/n sat on Sans’s shoulder as he made his way down to the basement to check on the washing and Red's progress in the lab. When they arrived, they saw Stretch (minus his orange hoodie) pulling out all of the wet clothes into a basket, before loading and stating the Edgy’s duo’s washing.

Standing up, with the basket in hand, Stretch grinned and bowed his head slightly to Sans. “sans”.

He turned and bowed his head to her. “ms skeleton.”

Y/n laughed, pushing herself up from Sans’s shoulder. “If I knew you liked wearing make-up Stretch, I would have offered to do your nails for you. Really make it a female bonding experience.”

“you’re forgetting that i’ve already experienced your ‘make-up’ skills first hand.” He waved his hand in mid-air. “meh at best.”

“guess i’ll leave you to bound over the make-up tips.” Sans sighed, lifting his hand to Y/n, allowing her to jump on, before moving her to Stretch’s shoulder.

Stretch clicked his tongue. “what, too good for laundry mr man?”

Y/n sat on his shoulder with her arms folded, looking down at Sans. “Men.” she agreed, smiling cheekily.

Sans raised his hands up in defence. “nice try stretch, but it’s your turn for laundry duty.” Before anyone could stop him, he had walked over to the lab’s door and opened it. “if anyone need me, i’ll be in the lab.”

“actually-“ started Stretch.

The lab door closed behind Sans, leaving Y/n and Stretch to stare after a skeleton miming deafness behind a sound-proof door.

Chuckling, Stretch walked up the basement stairs with the laundry and Y/n, and headed outside.

As they walked outside, Y/n could see what looked like Papyrus working in the garden, complete with overalls, gardening gloves and a big straw hat.

“washing’s done paps.” called Stretch, walking over to the clothesline.

Papyrus looked up and waved eagerly. “I’M ALMOST DONE! LET ME JUST GO WASH UP AND I’LL COME AND HELP!”

“Wash up?” Y/n asked, turning to Stretch with a questioning look.

“paps doesn’t like messes and he hates seeing clean things get dirty for no good reason.”

“Really? Because I’ve seen him in the kitchen and I would hardly call that ‘clean’.”

Stretch chuckled, “that’s just our bro’s organised chaos.” He looked at her. “haven’t you noticed how quick they are to clean up after themselves?”

Now that she thought about it… yea. Papyrus (Blueberry and Edge as well, now that she was really thinking about it) never left a mess for long.

She mulled over this latest development.

“careful blue!”

Y/n was brought out of her mulling to look in surprise at Stretch, who had called out to Blueberry, to Blueberry himself, who was standing opposite of Edge in the duelling area facing him.

Blueberry rolled his eyes and glared at Stretch. “I AM NOT A CHILD, BROTHER! I CAN HANDILY MYSELF!” He posed as Y/n felt Stretch stiffened under her, “I AM THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY AFTER ALL!”

“THE ONLY MAGNIFICENT THING ABOUT YOU WILL BE YOUR DEFEAT!” Edge crowed, striking his own pose.

“if you hurt him edge.” Stretch threatened, staring down an unimpressed Edge.

“EDGE WOULD NEVER HURT HIM STRETCH!” Y/n turned to see Papyrus running over, back in his casual clothes. “HE HAS EXCELLENT CONTROL (NOT AS PERFECT AS MINE, BUT STILL IMPRESSIVE)!”

Edge threw his head back and laughed. “BUT OF COURSE, I AM PERFECT AT EVERYTHING I DO!” He pointed a finger down at Blueberry “PREPARE TO LOSE, BABY-BONES! FIRST ONE OUT OF THE CIRCLE LOSES!!”

“BRING IT EDGE LORD!”

Papyrus shrugged, turning his back on the duel at it started to hang up clothes. “BLUEBERRY AND I ARE VERY GRATEFUL TOWARDS EDGE ACTUALLY.”

“Why?” Y/n asked, watching the two skeletons summoning and dodging bones with lightning speed and reflexes.

“HE’S THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL PROPERLY FIGHT ME OR BLUE. ALL OUR BROTHERS DO IS PUN THEIR WAY OUT OF MATCHES, OR JUST DODGING EVERYTHING!” He turned to her, “DO YOU KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING THAT IS?! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO KEEP OUR IMPRESSIVE SKILLS SHARP IF WE DO NOT PRACTICE?!”

She looked away from Papyrus and back to the match, occasionally watching Stretch, who was keeping a very close eye on the match as he slowly hung up the clothes. On the one hand, there was no denying that both Sans and Stretch could be guilty at ‘babying’ their brothers, but looking at how narrowly Blueberry was dodging the sharpened bones Edge seemed to be hurling with little regard for safety, she could see their point.

“WHAT’S THIS?”

Y/n and Stretch turned to Papyrus, who was holding up nan's bra with two hands, looking at it in utter confusion. Y/n turned her head away, trying to desperately keep back her laughter.

“it’s a bra paps.” Stretch answered, with a cheeky smile.

“A BRA? WHAT DOES IT DO?” He looked around, realising something. “WAIT, WHO’S IS IT?”

“I *Snicker* don’t know.” Y/n chortled, “It’s too big to be mine.”

“and blue, sans and red are too wide for it to fit them.” Stretch added, leaning back and watching Papyrus solve the great mystery.

“AND IT ISN’T MINE OR YOUR'S STRETCH?” He looked up to see Stretch shaking his head. Papyrus eyed the bra quizzically while rubbing his chin.  Before anyone could say anything or stop him, he was off and running towards the two duellers. “I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU TWO!”

Stretch chortled, bringing out his phone to take a photo of Papyrus holding up the bra with Blueberry leaning in for a closer look and Edge turning away, his face a vivid red.

“What’s with the photo?” Y/n asked, looking at the screen as Stretch examined his latest photo.

“before shot.”

“Of what?”

“just wait.” He turned to look at her, still sitting on his shoulder. “hey y/n, can i have a selfie with you? i’ll send along this and all the footage i got from of sneak and her brave knights?”

“I forgot you were recording that.” She grinned “Deal.”

Stretch held the phone high with an arm as Y/n presser her head against his temple, playfully sticking out her tongue.

*click*

Stretch looked down at his phone, smiling. “perfect.” He tapped a few things on his phone. “and i’ve just sent everything i had over to you.”

“GET THAT BRA AWAY FROM ME!!”

Y/n and Stretch looked away from the phone screen to see Edge flailing his arms and body away from Papyrus, who had appeared to be in the middle of holding up the bra to his back.

“BUT IT HAS TO BE YOUR'S EDGE! IT WON’T FIT HALF OF US AND STRETCH ALREADY TOLD ME IT ISN’T HIS SO-“

“THAT DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MAKE IT MINE!!” Edge shrieked.

Stretch chuckled, holding up his phone again. “and here’s the after shot.”

Edge tore the bra from Papyrus’s hand, before tossing it up into the air. As the bra flew through the air, a giant, dog-like skull creature materialised next to Edge. Before Y/n could do or say much of anything, the creature had opened its maw and a beam of pure energy poured out of its mouth, disintegrating the bra to ashes.

“What the hell was that?!” Y/n screamed, throwing herself off Stretch’s shoulder and running towards the duelling area.

Blueberry brightened, lowering himself to the ground. “OH, HI Y/N! DID YOU SEE MY-“

“All I saw was a creature of hell materialise from thin air and fire its beam of death! What even was that?!”

“THAT WAS ONE OF EDGE’S BLASTERS! YOU SHOULD SEE MINE Y/N!”

“Why was it so big?! Do they all shoot lasers?!”

“YEAH! PRETTY COOL, RIGHT! WE CAN MAKE THEM AS BIG OR AS SMALL AS WE WANT (ALTHOUGH MAKING THEM MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT IS REALLY DRAINING)!”

“Pretty cool!?! It just vaporised a bra into nothing!!” She folded her arms. “As your landlady, I’m creating an ‘absolutely no death blasters’ rule!”

“I DIDN’T EVEN-!”, “WHAT! NO FAIR! I-!“, “I WILL NOT ABIDE-!”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Y/n yelled over top of them. “It’s looked really dangerous! What if something went wrong!?”

“BUT Y/N-!”

“No buts!”

“WHAT IF WE PROMISE TO NOT USE THE LASER?”

While she argued back and forwards with the trio, she failed to notice the Stretch had taken another photo of her lecturing and point up at three skeletons, hiding his smile behind his phone.

~*~

After the truce had been struck where she managed to get them to agree to no lasers and never bigger than their head size, Blueberry took Y/n and himself back to the kitchen to start making tacos for lunch. Half-way through the week and already every day was a new battle to keep Blueberry from sneaking in glitter and from ending the cooking process before the meat had a chance to properly cook.

Of course, just like it had done this morning, life had plans to keep her from working with the cooks to mitigate as much of damage as possible and to help negate some of the less desirable effects.

Although she had to be honest with herself, she did bring this one on herself.

“PEST!”

Y/n turned away from Blueberry with glitter on his hands and a guilty expression on his face to see Edge standing in the kitchen’s archway, livid.

He waved around one of his damp shirts. “WHY DOES MY SHIRT SMELL LIKE A FLOWER ORGY!?”

Snickering, Y/n leapt from Blueberry’s shoulder and ran towards the kitchen’s vent.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!”

Red bones sprang up and Y/n experience weird deja vu as she turned and ran towards Edge instead. Edge, unprepared to have her running towards him, lept back, giving Y/n the space she needed to run past him and deeper into the house.

“GET BACK HERE!” he yelled, hurrying after her and her cackles.

~*~

Hours later and Y/n had managed to find a hiding spot that Edge hadn’t been able to snuff her out; in Sans’s jacket pocket, still hanging outside, on the clothes' line.

It had been exhilarating experience dodging Edge as he hunted her, with many near discovers and outright bolting to the next spot. He had an uncanny ability to always be in the area she was currently hiding. Case in point, when he had finally gone outside to hang out his and Red’s clothes (muttering vows of vengeance against her), Y/n had once again been clinging to his boots, trapped by what should have been a tempory hiding spot. When he had been distracted, Y/n had run to the clothesline pole, trying to make herself as thin as possible.

It had been a nerve racking experience as she was more than well aware that, if Edge discovered her, she literally had nowhere else to hide. Not with the grass cut short and the nearest thing to her a five minute run in an open area. She had stood there, listening as Edge hung up his clothes and moving around the pole’s base, trying to keep out of his line of sight. When he was finally done, however, he had stood back in silence for what felt like an eternity. It ended when he quietly chuckled to himself and retreated back to the house.

Y/n, refusing to be lured by a false sense of security, had scaled the clothes pole and jumped into the nearest thing to hide in.

Now, minutes later, she was listening to what sounded like Blueberry hurrying outside. He moved very quickly, humming to himself as he pulled and folded clothes before placing them in what she guessed to be the same basket that the skeletons had been using all day. All too soon, Sans’s jacket was grabbed and folded around her in no time. She listened as Blueberry quickly finished gathering the other clothes, before the basket was picked up and he made his way back to the house, still humming.

Grinning, Y/n wiggled her way out of Sans’s pocket and made her way towards the top of the clothes pile.

“Hiya Blue!” she yelled, her head just popping out.

Blueberry shrieked, and threw the basket and all the clean clothes into the air. Y/n herself, had been thrown up into the air, landing amidst the largest pile of clothes with the basket narrowly missing her. She looked up to see Blueberry leaning on the porch pole, a hand on his chest.

“Y/N!” he gasped. Then he puffed out his cheeks “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SCARING ME LIKE THAT!”

She giggled, looking up at him. “Hee, it’s cute when you puff out your cheeks like that.”

He stamped his foot in frustration. “I AM NOT CUTE!”

She kept giggling that she almost missed Blueberry muttering to himself “EVERYONE TREATS ME LIKE A CHILD.”

She stopped, looking up to see Blueberry tightly clenching his fits and looking away.

“I-I’m sorry Blue. I don’t mean to-“

He sighed. “I’VE GOTTEN USED TO IT.” His eyes flared blue and Y/n, and all the clothes and basket were lifted into the air. While Y/n floated towards the patio table and gently placed on its surface, the clothes were once again folded and placed into the basket, which then floated into Blueberry’s arms.

He turned and smiled sadly down at her. “I MEAN, EVERYONE ASSUMES THAT STRETCH IS THE OLDER BROTHER. I BET YOU DID TOO Y/N.”

She looked away guilty, “I-I mean, I didn’t know you back then and-“

“IT’S OKAY Y/N.” Blueberry squatted next to her, lowering himself to her eye level, “ONE DAY, I’LL MAKE YOU SEE ME AS A MAN.”  He winked at her, grinning when he saw her blush, and walked back into the house, chuckling “UNTIL THEN, I'LL SETTLE FOR GETTING YOU BACK FOR SCARING ME! MWEH HEH HEH!” as he left.

Still blushing, Y/n took a moment to collect her thoughts before she jumped off the table and walked inside herself.

Looking at the clock on the wall, she knew she should probably make her way to the kitchen for Papyrus’s cooking lesson/dinner. She made her way over into the vent, thinking over what Blueberry had just shared. She did feel just a bit guilty; it was easy to misinterpret his raw energy as immatureness and she was starting to feel bad that she hadn’t exactly reassured him otherwise.

*TWANG* Y/n felt something snap around her ankle and host her into the air.

“AH HA!”

Twirling in mid-air, she watched as Edge sprang from his hiding place behind the couch and came walking over towards her, smug as he could be. As blood rushed to her head and she viewed Edge’s smug grin as a frown from this angle, she was just grateful that her shirt hadn’t fallen past her head yet.

“Let me down Edge!” She scowled, crossing her arms.

Edge crouched next to her, infinitely pleased with the situation. “I THINK NOT, PEST.” He purred.

He poked her side, making her twirl in the other direction. Waving her hands, Y/n vainly attempted to keep Edge away from her. “Stop it Edge and let me go before I start screaming for help!”

“WOULD YOU REALLY DO THAT?" Edge asked, with a curious tone in his voice.

“I would if I thought you were going to hurt me!”

“DO YOU THINK I’M GOING TO HURT YOU?”

She stared at him, her arms still folded as her body continued to twill in mid-air.

After a moment she sighed and let her arms drop. “What do you want Edge?”

“AH, THAT’S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR.” he chuckled, watching her twirl. “WELL, FOR STARTERS, YOU CAN ADMIT THAT IT WAS YOU THIS MORNING THAT WAS RINGING THE DOORBELL.”

“For starts.” she scoffed. “Like this is a list with an end.”

“AND THEN, “Edge continued, like he hadn’t heard her, “YOU CAN APOLOGISE FOR SOILING MY CLOTHES BEFORE ADMITTING  THAT YOU FELL FOR AN INGENIOUS TRAP MADE BY THE SUPERIOR AND FLAWLESS EDGE.”

“Forget it!” Y/n began to swing, trying to losing whatever was keeping her in place. When she felt no give, she gave up and retched for her pin instead before swinging up and grabbing the tripwire with one hand. The pin was not designed for cutting and no amount of wistful cutting attempts was changing that.

Giving up, Y/n reattached her pin to her side, before letting her arms fall above her head again with a groan of frustration.

After a long moment, she finally looked to Edge, who remained crouched over her, highly amused.

“If I say those three things, you’ll let me go? No tricks?”

“NO TRICKS.” He grinned.

Sighing, Y/n spoke in a flat tone, “I admit it was me this morning ringing the doorbell, and I’m sorry for making your clothes smell like flowers and I admit that I’ve been captured by this ingenious trap made by the superior and flawless Edge.”

“AH HA! I KNEW IT!” He moved above her, tugging and pulling on the line before gently lowering her to the floor. “SEE, THAT WASN’T SO HARD, WAS IT? I SWEAR, SOMETIMES YOU CAN BE SO STUBBORN.”

“You hypocrite-!“

“CAREFUL, OR I’LL SHARE THIS RECORDING WITH EVERYONE.”

“What recording?”

Smirking, Edge pulled out his phone out from behind his pocket, grinning further as he watched her face fall in dread.

Looking up at him, dismayed, she asked. “You’re blackmailing me?!”

“CONSIDER THIS THE ‘PROOF’ YOU THOUGHT I LACKED.” He grinned.

She gaped at him in disbelief, before narrowing her eyes at him “I’ll get my revenge Edge, just you wait.” She vowed, backing into the vent.

He laughed, “I WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY, MY WORTHY OPPONENT.”

~*~

“Y/N!” Papyrus called, happy to see her. “WE MISSED YOU AND EDGE AT LUNCH!”

She grimaced, making her way over towards him out of the vent, thoughts of her latest interaction with Edge still fresh in her mind. “We were in the middle of a little competition that sort of ran for too long.“ She moved onto his hand, climbing off and onto his shoulder when he raised her to it. “So, what did you get up to today?”

“WELL, BLUEBERRY AND I SPENT THE AFTERNOON CALIBRATING OUR PUZZLES, EVEN IF HE FOOLISHLY INSISTS THAT HIS PUZZLES CAN EVER COMPETE WITH MINE!” Papyrus boasted, proudly, already starting with the tomato sauce that would go with the gnocchi dish they had been making multiple times all week. Out of the three cooks, Papyrus had been the only one eager to try a recipe that she didn’t know, pulling an old cookbook from the study room with a few recipes already highlighted. She had agreed, if only she could choose the recipe.

Although simple, the recipe was actually pretty good and everyday Papyrus improved.

 _‘Now if only I could teach him how to keep the ingredients in the pot.’_ she thought, whipping of a splash of tomato from her cheek.

“HERE Y/N!”

Shaken out of her thoughts, Y/n noticed that Papyrus held up a sliver of cheese towards her. Taking it, she asked, confused. “What’s this for?”

Papyrus returned to his dish, flinging more sauce around the stove top, “SINCE THE DUMPLINGS TAKE TIME AND YOU DIDN’T HAVE LUNCH, I BELIEVE THIS CHEESE SHOULD HELP KEEP YOUR ENERGY UP UNTIL YOU HAVE A PROPER DINNER TONIGHT!” He looked over at her, “IT’S IMPORTANT TO YOUR HEALTH TO HAVE REGULAR MEALS AND YOU’RE IMPORTANT TO ME!”

Blushing, Y/n toyed with the cheese. “That’s really nice of you to say Paps.”

Papyrus grinned, “IT’S THE TRUTH Y/N AND THAT’S WHY YOU SHOULD HURRY UP AND EAT! WE’VE GOT A LOT TO DO ONCE I’M FINISHED WITH THIS SAUCE!” He looked over to the open cookbook (covered in old and new tomato sauce splatter), “I WASN’T ENTIRELY HAPPY WITH LAST NIGHT’S DUMPLINGS AND I WANT TO TRY THAT CAKE RECIPE THAT USES APPLES!”

“If we have time.” she reminded him.

He glanced over at her, “OF COURSE WE’LL HAVE TIME!” He raised his fists “NOTHING WILL SLOW THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

~*~

And nothing did.

Not even when he managed to break the handle off the masher or when he needed to add more tomatoes to make up for the fact that half the walls were covered in tomato splatters.

Y/n had needed to go change before dinner, and Papyrus had needed to fetch a  bucket and mop, but dinner was cooked in a reasonable time (much to Papyrus’s satisfaction and boasting). He was still beaming when he served dinner to the whole family, who had questioned how tomato had managed to get into Y/n hair and Papyrus’s neck.

After dinner, however, Papyrus turned to her, eager and all smiles “Y/N, SINCE WE’VE FINISHED DINNER EARLY AGAIN, DOESN’T THAT MEAN-“

“sorry paps,“ Red grinned, interrupting Papyrus, “but y/n and i will be workin' in the workshop all night tonight.”

Everyone stared at Red as he pushed himself up and moved around to Y/n’s side of the table. He hovered behind her, grinning down at her. “isn’t that right baby doll?”

“You wanna start the chopper tonight?” she asked, guess that was what he was hinting at.

“what chopper?” Sans asked, eyeing Red suspiciously.

“the chopper her dad was working on. y/n asked me, specifically, to help her finish it.” Red grinned, looking around the table.

“Y/N!” Blueberry cried, looking hurt, “WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK ME?! I’M THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO ACTUALLY OWNS A MOTORCYCLE.”

“I-I’m sorry!” She looked around the room, seeing the same disappointment on all their faces, “I asked first Red because he already knew about the bike and it was my way of trying to show that there was no hard feeling between us and-“

“so if you’ll excuse us.” Red lowered his hand before her. Awkwardly, she climbed onto his hand, trying to pretend she couldn’t notice the hurt expressions around the table.

“We-we’ll cook desert tomorrow night Paps, I promise.” She mumbled.

Papyrus waved his hand, “IT’S FINE Y/N! I KNOW HOW MUCH THAT WORKSHOP MEANS TO YOU! YOU TWO GO AND HAVE FUN!”

“YEAH, LOTS OF FUN.” Blueberry muttered to himself, sulking on his chair.

While Red continued grinning, Y/n sat on his hand, feeling guilty as all hell. She hadn't meant to play favourites; asking specifically Red had honestly been about getting to know him better, something she hoped he would help seeing as he was already inclined to look after the workshop.

She was glad he had said yes, glad for this chance to get to know him better, but she sure didn't mean to do so at the expense of excluding everyone eles.

“That was a mean trick Red” Y/n muttered, glaring up at him.

He scoffed, “what, were you hopin' you and me would slip out, all secret like every night?” He shrugged, “they were going to know about it sooner or later. why wait?”

“It wasn’t about waiting, it was about picking the correct time and place. You know, not interrupting plans that someone else was looking forward to?”

“weren't you the one who said anytime i was available?” Red asked, looking down at her.

“Well, yeah. But I was sort of expecting more warning than that!”

Red shrugged, opening up the workshop door with his magic as he approached. “yeah, well i ain’t ever been one for warnings.”

“Try.” Y/n asked, glaring up at him, “Don’t make me regret asking you for help Red. that’s all I’m asking.”

“yea yea.” He dropped her onto the workshop bench, pulling up the stool before sitting down himself. He looked around the bench before looking at her. “so, what do we do?”

“We start by making a design.” She moved over to the draws, pushing them open with her feet. Jumping into the open draw, she pushed out old calendars of custom choppers she knew her dad had used for inspiration.

She flipped one to a random month before Red. “Notice how, even if they look different, choppers have a basic look?”

“yeah.” Red replied, picking up a calendar for his own perusal.

“We need to decide what ours is going to look like before we can start cutting handlebars.” She pointed to the frame. “See how this part stays pretty much the same, no matter how different the rest of the bike looks?” Red nodded, “that’s a good place to start; it’ll give us a baseline. Personally, since neither of us really knows what we’re doing I suggest we stick to a basic model and try and copy one of the more simpler ones before we attempt any the tricker stuff.”

“before?” Red asked, grinning down at her, rest his head on an arm.

She folded her arms, “I meant if we attempt another one.”

Red chuckled, before he brought something out of his pocket, hidden in his clenched fist. “if these calendars are anything to go on, then i’m going to need the moral support of a sexy babe dressed in a skimpy bikini to keep me going.”

Y/n gaped at him, “You didn’t.”

He grinned, opening his hand and revealing a bitty sized bikini.

Y/n chuckled, picking up the pieces in disbelief. “It this what came in the mail for you today?” She looked up to see him smiling down at her. “Too bad you don’t have one yourself. After all, I said we’d do everything as a team, and if only one of us is wearing a bikini-“

Red pulled out his other hand, revealing a second bikini outfit already tied around his hand. The hand strutted around the desktop, posing in front of Y/n, before sassy walking away.

Y/n collapsed to the benchtop, laughing so hard that she started snorting. Red laughed too, even as he moved his hand closer to her collapsed form, still making his hand sassy pose in front of her.

Gasping, she managed to stand up and push away the sexy hand. “Okay, okay! Get you sexy hand away from me!”

“don’t you find me _cuticle_?”

“Pfft! I find you finger-licking good!”

Y/n stopped, her mouth working faster than her common sense. Faster than her brain could stop the first and worst joke she could have possibly said. Slowly, she looked up in horror to Red’s face.

He stared back at her, at a complete loss for words. Then he was howling, collapsing onto the bench when he slammed the bench-top over and over again.

“oh my fuckin' god!” he howled.

“I didn’t mean to say that!” she pleaded, her face neon

“that? nah, that was honesty baby doll.”

“It was a slip of the tongue, I swear!”

He pushed himself up, red tears in his eyes and a huge grin on his face. “slip of the tongue? baby, i had no idea that how you truly felt about me.”

She buried her head in her arms “Can we please forget I said anything and move on already!”

“how about a photo?”

She looked up at him to see him grinning down at her. He winked, “a photo to commemorate this first night on working on the bike…and the night you spoke your mind.”

“I swear Red, you know that it was just a dumb joke!”

“aww, i thought you didn’t easily get flustered baby doll.”

She glared at him, before she grinned cheekily. “Well, if we’re going to take a photo together, I better make sure I’m dressed the part.” She grabbed the bikini off from the floor. “No peeking!” she grinned, sticking out her tongue playfully.

Blushing, Red turned around, muttering something about cheap tricks and cheating.

Quickly, Y/n dressed and called out to Red, “Okay, you can turn around now.”

Red turned around to see that Y/n had put on the bikini over her current outfit, posing in a flirty manner.

“Who’s the _cuticle_ now?” she grinned.

Red barked a laugh before he could stop himself or his blush, “no argument here.” He moved the hand still wearing the bikini next to her, and she moved closer to it, pressing herself into. Red, still slightly blushing, used his other hand to take the photo of Y/n hugging his bikini decked-out hand while his face hovered in the background.

Overall, not a bad start to the project that would just happen to take more time than Y/n could have ever predicted.

 

Next Chapter is called: A Line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with the start of February marks the end of my spare time =( Don't expect bi-weekly updates....although, if I do get a chance to update, it will always happen on a Saturday!
> 
> !!!AND I'VE GOTTEN AMAZING FANART!!!  
> I'm not sure if I can share them (I really should have asked sooner!)  
> But!  
> As soon as I figure it out, I'm sharing them with the world! 
> 
> ALSO, I'm still giving hint pictures on the next chapter on both tumblr and Discord. You know, if you want another hint on the next chapter to go with the next chapter's title! 
> 
> On a personal note, I just want to explain a little bit about what these past two weeks were like for me:  
> Week 1: OMG, look at all the colours! I've got soo much water coming out my nose I should run a water park. Hey! How about if Y/n actually turns into a cat, but with the personality of a dog? That would be an AMazing idea for a chapter story!! I am so smart! Where's my Nobel prize?!  
> Week 2: Argh, I don't wanna write! I just wanna sleep and- OH why did my family come into town?!  
> ....so yeah
> 
> I've written this next part about fours times and I've finally decided I'd explain it using Undertale soul traits logic (cause, why the hell not!?).
> 
> For those how don't know, I consider myself having an Integrity core, mostly Patience soul. My Patience was fine, but my Integrity wasn't happy with what I was writing. The chapters were shorter than I planned, I didn't flesh out certain scenes as much as I wanted to and, overall, my writing FELT weaker this time around. The more I felt this, the less I wanted to write. Patience wanted me to delay the update but Integrity wasn't having NONE of that. I said I'd do something, I'm F-ing doing it! Patience rolled its eyes, but keep be ploughing on, keeping me from deleting entire sections and scrapping everything multiple times.
> 
> Now, don't get me wrong, I'm okay with these chapters, but a lot of self-criticising has soured this update cycle for me to the point that I don't think I could ever like these chapters, personally.  
> And that's okay!
> 
> I mean, I don't have to LOVE every chapter and there are bound to be favourites! So why can't the same be true for chapters I just didn't have fun writing?  
> It's okay to not be okay, okay?  
> Okay =)


	10. A Line

“And, send.”

Smiling, Y/n pushed her phone back into her house and returned to her balcony, eagerly listening.

It took a second, but eventually, Y/n heard the unmistakable sounds of Edge yelling from somewhere downstairs. Shortly after, she could feel the vibrations travelling through her bitty house’s structure as Edge came charging up the stairs, his enraged face come into view.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” he screamed down at her, a hand holding up his phone and shaking in barely contained anger.

Y/n looked over to the photo displayed on his phone, the one she just sent him of her cheekily posing next to his action figure which was dressed in nothing but the bitty bikini and posing sexily. Grinning, she shrugged “I thought the Black Knight could do with a wardrobe change. Now we both have embarrassing ‘proof’ on our phones.”

“PROOF!?” Edge spluttered, his face livid as his entire expression darkened. “WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TOUCH MY THINGS?! HOW DARE YOU!!”

She held up her hands, backing away, “Easy Edge, I was just -“

“WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR TRUCE, VERMIN?! I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO ENTER MY ROOM!”

“Sure you did. I distinctly remember saying, “Edge, say nothing if I can enter your room”, and when I heard nothing, I assumed it was okay-“

“WHAT-?! HOW THE-!! WHY YOU LITTLE-!!” Edge stuttered, his words and emotions clashing so violently he struggled to speak.

“Calm down Edge, it’s just a picture! It’s not like I haven’t entered your room without permission before.” Y/n took a step forward, “I don’t get why you’re this angry. Are you mad because you didn’t set up any traps this time?”

Edge looked away, his clenched fist held firmly at his side as they shook.

“what’s with all the noise?” Red asked, coming out of his room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and clearly have just woken up from his sleep in.

“IT’S NOTHING!” Barked Edge, a visible tremor running through him now.

Red continued to pull on his jacket, walking towards them while eyeing his brother closely. “it doesn’t sound like nothin’ boss. you know better than to yell at y/n like-“

Whirling around to face him, Edge turned and strode over towards Red, abruptly lifting and pinning him to the wall.

“b-boss!” spluttered Red.

“what’s with all the yelling edge?” Called Sans’s voice, somewhere below them.

Edge ignored him, he instead held up his phone up to Red’s baffled face. “LOOK AT WHAT SHE’S DONE!!”

Red’s eyes briefly looked at the photo before his expression fell, looking quickly from Y/n’s deeply concerned expression to his brother’s enraged one.

“SHE’S HUMILIATED ME, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MY GENEROUS NATURE! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO WEAKENED MY DEFENCES, EVEN FOR A SECOND!!!”

“Edge!” Y/n called out, thoroughly regretting her actions by now, “I’m sorry! It's just a pr-“

Edge ignored her and continuing to scream into his brother's face, his voice drowning out her fumbled apologies, “AND WHERE ELSE WOULD SHE GET SUCH A SHAMEFUL PIECE OF CLOTHING BUT FROM MY REVOLTING, PERVERTED BROTHER, WHO IS CONTINUALLY FINDING NEW WAYS TO SINK EVEN LOWER!?!”

By now, the rest of the skeleton family had made their way upstairs, watching the argument from a distance. Y/n hardly took notice of them; her attention whole focused on the sickening display of family fighting that brought up echoes of her own experiences.

“boss! i-“

In the next instance, Edge plunged his fist into Red, startling a scream from Y/n. Edge looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes tighten before looking back to Red, who was still clenched. Dropping his brother to the floor, Edge stood back and open up the wallet he had just taken Red’s jacket.

“SINCE YOU HAVE PROVEN YOU CAN NOT BE TRUSTED WITH OUR MONEY,“ Edge said, pulling out and snapping card after card before throwing the pieces to the side viciously from Red’s wallet, “I AM TAKING AWAY YOUR ACCESS!”

“but boss-!”

Edge threw the wallet against the wall next to Red before walking away, slamming his bedroom door behind him, without so much as a backwards glance at anyone else.

“boss.” pleaded Red, pushing himself up from the ground and walking over to Edge’s door.

Edge’s door opened, but before Red’s face could brighten further, something was hurled out of his room, smashing into pieces upon hitting Stretch’s door. Edge’s door was quickly slammed shut again, red-bones further blocking the door.

Stretch walked over to his door, a lollypop in between his teeth, and picked up a piece. It was the head of the Black Knight, the bitty bikini still attached to his broken neck fragment.

Red stared at the piece in Stretch’s hand, before throwing Y/n an angry, hurtful expression.

“Red, I’m so-“

He vanished from sight.

Sans sighed, rubbing the back of his skull. “jeez kid, why did you have to do that to edge’s stuff?”

“It- it was just meant to be a harmless prank, I swear.” Y/n mumbled, lowering herself to sit on the ground, her back resting on her door.

“A PRANK?” Blueberry asked, thinking.

Walking to his door and disappearing from sight, Bluberry’s voice could be heard, calling out “Y/N, WHY HAVE YOU MOVED ALL MY ACTION FIGURES AND GIVEN THEM LABELS THAT DON’T MAKE SENSE? IS THIS SUPPOSE TO BE A PRANK TOO?”

He came out holding three action figures entwined with each other, one on its hands and knees and in-between two other action figures. One of the action figures was connected to kneeling one’s mouth at the hip and the remaining one connected at its backside, also at the hips. Blueberry pointed to the strip of paper stuck to the kneeling action figure, clearly confused. “HOW ARE THREE PEOPLE CALLED ‘SPITROAST’? WHERE’S THE FIRE, WHERE’S THE MEAT?”

Sans snickered as Stretch’s jaw dropped, the lollypop stick falling out of his open mouth. Papyrus just looked confused, yet thoughtful.

Y/n sighed, any humour she might have found out of the situation was entirely robbed after the damaged she just caused to Red and Edge’s relationship. “Yeah, it's supposed to be a prank. I moved all your action figure and labelled them into se-“

“nothing!” Blurted out Stretch, apparently involuntarily.

Blueberry looked away from the paper to stare at his brother, confused. “NOTHING?” then his expression darkened, “YOU KNOW THE ANSWER, DON’T YOU?”

Stretch shrugged, looking away, “don’t worry about it. it’s not important.”

Blueberry huffed “WHY DON’T I GET TO DECIDE THAT?!”

“bro, just forget it, okay?”

Before Blueberry could reply, Papyrus gasped as a thought occurred to him and he ran into his room.

There was a brief second, before Papyrus gave a heart-breaking wail of despair.

“papyrus!” Sans called out, running towards his brother’s room.

Before he made it to the door, Papyrus came rushing back out, gripping something that dripped red and had a tiny sword sticking out from its centre between his hands, tears flowing from his eyes.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SIR PROUD!” Papyrus sobbed as his hands shook, staring back at Y/n.

“I-I covered him with ketchup to fake his murder.” She mumbled, her eyes falling back to her lap, unable to handle the look of betrayal on Papyrus’s face any longer.

“ketchup?” Sans asked, “is that why my bottle was lighter this morning?”

Y/n nodded as Papyrus cried out, “THAT WAS YOUR KETCHUP?! THE ONE YOU’VE KEPT IN YOUR WARM JACKET EVER SINCE WE MOVED TO SNOWDIN?! THE SAME KETCHUP THAT HOUSES COUNTLESS GERMS IS NOW COVERING MY PRIZED POSSESSION?!”

Papyrus looked at his soiled action figure, his hands shaking even more now. With tears still flowing, he looked up in Y/n’s horrified face, his own expression one of pure heartbreak. “I-I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS Y/N?”

“W-we are!” exclaimed Y/n, standing up quickly and reaching for him, “Papyrus, I’m-“

He ran away, his sobs following him downstairs.

“paps has a bit of phobia with germs y/n, and that was just about the worst thing you could have done to him.” Sans said, looking after his brother’s retreating back.

“I swear Sans, I didn’t know! If I had, I-“

“perhaps you would have known that if you actually paid attention.” He looked over at her, his normal grin was now a grimace “or did you know that and that’s why you went after one of the few things he’s kept since his childhood?”

They both ignored the silent tears that slide down her cheeks. “I sorry-“ she whispered.

Sans turned and walked downstairs, following Papyrus.

Stretch rubbed the back of his neck. “poor paps.”

“DON’T THINK THAT I’VE FORGOTTEN THAT YOU’RE TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD WHO NEEDS PROTECTION AGAIN!” Blueberry huffed, bring the focus back to him and the piece of paper he was now waving, “CAN YOU JUST TELL ME WHAT THIS IS ALREADY?”

Stretch stuck his hand into his hoodie, straighten his shoulders, “bro, i’m telling you, you don’t need to know. you won’t feel better-“

“IF YOU WON’T TELL ME, I’LL JUST LOOK IT UP!” Blueberry moved to his door, only to find Stretch standing there, blocking him.

“look, i know that you can handle yourself, but the human internet, particularly with the things you want to look up, has some seriously messed up things that go way beyond what we had-“

“AND YOU DON’T THINK I CAN HANDLE IT?!”

“i didn’t say that-“

“BUT IT’S TRUE!” Blueberry crossed his arms, determinedly looking away from his brother. “LET ME IN.” he said, quietly.

“blue,-“

“NOW!”

Sighing, Stretch stepped aside, allowing Blueberry to stride right past him without so much as looking at him, before slamming the door in his face.

Stretch merely stood there, his head bowed.

“Stretch,” Y/n called out shakily, “I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear!”

Stretch sighed heavily, still facing the door. “it’s okay y/n, i believe you, but this one isn’t your fault, it’s mine.” His shoulders clenched, before shagging. He turned to see her hands grasped tightly and twisting in front of her chest. “i brought this on myself.”

“Stretch-“

“i think you should apologise to everyone else though” He said, as he moved towards his own room slowly, “their pranks were a lot worse than blue’s.”

“Stretch, I’m sorry!”

He closed the door behind him.

Y/n stared at Stretch's closed door, waves of guilt and regret hitting her again and again. She hadn't meant any of this to happen! It was just meant to be harmless pranks, no one was supposed to get hurt! How could it have gone so wrong, so quickly?!

...how was she ever going to face them again?

Tears continued to slide down her cheeks as she slid back down her door, to stare at her nails biting into her clenched hands.

She had fucked up, there was no other way of putting it. She had fucked up and there was nothing she could do to ever make up for her stupid mistake. They were bound to hate her. She certainly hated herself right now.

Why had she ever thought this would be funny!? That this was a good idea?! Why had she gone into their rooms without permission, especially after the fuss she had made! She was such a hypocrite!!

She hadn’t thought things through, like normal. She had allowed herself to believe she was above the rules, like normal. She never took into consideration anyone else's thoughts and feelings, like fucking normal.

_“If you hadn’t been such a self-centred bitch, they would still be alive!!!”_

No amount of apologising had fixed the broken mirror shattered the night she learned of the car crash.

Edge's door banged open, startling Y/n out of her remorseful thoughts. Edge, himself, came strolling out, briefly throwing Red's door an embittered glare.

She stood up quickly, hurriedly wiping away her tears. "Edge, I am so sorry! Please, let me-"

He walked right past her, his fists clenched to his side as he made his way downstairs. The sound of the downstairs backdoor slamming punctured her hurtful silence at being blatantly ignored, of not even being allowed a chance to apologize and explain.

Shakingly, she took a deep breath and wiped away the rest of her tears.

 _‘I -I need to beg for forgiveness. To apologize.’_ She laughed bitterly, _‘Like that has ever worked for me before.’_

But she was determined to try.

She…she didn’t want to be left alone again.

After washing her face with cool water from her sink and tightening the straps on her bag, she felt dread about facing any one of the skeletons, who probably never wanted to see her again. She, of course, would respect their wishes, but not until they heard her apology.

Steeling herself, she made her way upstairs and over to the vent, resisting the temptation to simply hideaway for a couple of days and wait for things to fix themselves out.

Afterall, she already knew that never worked.

~*~

"Blue?" she asked softly, knocking on the vents that lead to his room.

"GO AWAY Y/N!"

She knelt before the vent, resting her head on the closed bars. "Please Blue. I'm sorry!"

When she didn't hear a reply, she sighed sadly, "It's okay. You don't have to forgive me. I just wanted you to know how sorry I am."

As she was standing to leave, the vents opened behind her.

Slowly, she approached them to see Blueberry at his computer, his monitor black with his back turned to her.

“C-can I come in?” She asked tentatively, preparing to jump in.

“OH, NOW YOU’RE ASKING FOR MY PERMISSION?” Blueberry asked, harshly.

Y/n felt a stab of pain; she had never heard him talk to her like that before and it was so much worse than she could have ever imagined.

“I deserve that.” She mumbled quietly to herself.

Blueberry gasped, turning around. “WHAT?! NO YOU DON’T!” He looked away. “I’M SORRY. I’M JUST A BIT ANGRY RIGHT NOW.”

Sighing, he stood up and walked over to the vent, his hand held open for her to jump onto.

Y/n paused, searching his eyes. His only response was to give her a tight smile, his eyes slightly sad. Taking a deep breath, she leapt into his hand, moving to sit on his palm.

“YOU’RE SHAKING.” he said, his tone noticeable falling as he moved back towards his desk.

“I’m- I’m just-“ the words choked in her throat as fresh tears flowed.

Blueberry shushed her softly, rubbing her back with the tip of a finger as she buried her head in her hands.

 _‘God I’m pathetic.’_ she chastised herself.

She was supposed to be apologising, not making him feel like he obligated to comfort her!

Taking another deep breath and pushing aside her emotions, she managed to steel herself long enough to discreetly wipe away the latest tears.

“I-I’m okay.” She whispered.

“ARE YOU SURE?” Blueberry asked, his voice filled with concern.

Nodding, she quickly pushed herself away from his hand and walked onto his desk. “Yeah, I-I just had something in my eyes again.”

Blueberry chuckled softly behind her. “Y/N, YOU DON’T-“

“Actually Blue," she said, turning to face him, “I came here to apologise to you.” She looked at her feet. “I’m so sorry Blueberry. I should have never entered your room without your permission and I should have never touched your stuff.”

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking at his black monitor. “THANKS Y/N, BUT TO BE HONEST, I WASN’T THAT UPSET ABOUT YOUR PRANK.” He looked over at her seriously, “IF I WAS YOU, I’D APOLOGISE TO EDGE AND ESPECIALLY PAPYRUS. I THINK THEY DESERVE IT MORE.”

“I know.” she whispered to herself, clenching her hands again. “But I still want to apologise you. I mean, you’re upset with me and I regret-“

“I’M NOT UPSET WITH YOU!” he quickly exclaimed.

Y/n flinched at his unexpected shouting, before asking, “Y-you’re not?”

“OF COURSE NOT!” He huffed, crossing his arms. “I MEAN, I'M NOT HAPPY THAT YOU ENTERED MY ROOM WITHOUT ASKING FIRST, BUT I'M MAINLY UPSET WITH MY BABY BROTHER TREATING ME LIKE A BABY BONES, WHEN IT’S MY JOB TO PROTECT HIM!”

“Oh.”

They fell into an awkward silence.

“Did-did you ever find out what ‘spitroast’ means?” She asked, spying the pile of the labels she made for all his action figures near his keyboard.

Blueberry blushed hard, sweat forming on his brow as he looked sharply at his computer before flinching away. “Y-YEAH.” He looked at her with blush still on his cheeks, before quickly looking out his window. “WH-WHY DID YOU DO THAT Y/N? AND TO SIR BRAVE TOO!”

She sighed sadly, “I remember what you said yesterday and I thought that would make a good prank to show you that I don’t think you’re a child Blue.” She looked up to see him looking back at her, “I didn’t exactly confirm yesterday that I do see you as an adult.”

“Y-YOU COULD HAVE JUST SAID SO.” He said, his blush deepening.

“Yeah.” She said, wholeheartedly agreeing with him and desperately wishing she had.

They fell again into thoughtful silence.

“I- I wish you would be easier on Stretch though, Blue.” She admitted, speaking her thoughts out loud.

“WHY?! HE’S ALWAYS DOING STUFF LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME!” Blueberry cried out, looking indignant.

“But imagine if the situation was reversed.” She pleaded, moving to pat his hand, “Would you want Stretch to looking up all those poses?”

“NO!” he exclaimed, looking horrified at the very idea.

“So it’s okay for you to protect your brother, but not okay for him to protect you?”

“WH- OF COURSE NOT! IT’S JUST-!“ He looked quickly away from her knowing smile and back to his black screen. “THE HUMAN INTERNET HAS SO MUCH MORE…THINGS THAN WHAT WE EVER HAD IN THE UNDERGROUND! I UM, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT WHAT I’VE SEEN.” He admitted, reluctantly.

“And if you knew that Stretch was about to search ‘spitroast’ on this human internet?”

He refused to make eye-contact with her, but she felt like she had made her point.

“Look, I get it Blue. ‘Family’ and ‘sex’ are about the last things we ever want to be in the same sentence, let alone in our conversations.” She chuckled quietly, “I can’t imagine how bad it was for Stretch to be placed in that position. Guess I need to say sorry to him too, “she eyed him meaningfully, seeing him looking at her from the corner of his eye, “but I think you need apologies as well.”

He didn’t reply, seemingly thinking as he stared back out his window.

“Blue?”

He sighed. “I THINK WE SHOULD GET STARTED ON LUNCH. IT’S ALREADY LATE.”

He offered his hand, which she stepped onto. She wished he would agree to apologise to Stretch, but who was she to push the point further?

“Do you think anyone will come down?” she asked instead as she sat on his shoulder, the reality of what she had done brought back into her forethoughts.

“I STILL NEED TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS LUNCH.” Blueberry shrugged, making his way downstairs and towards the kitchen. “IT’S MY RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE LUNCH AND I’M GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT HAPPENS!”

She fell into a thoughtful silence as Blueberry pulled out a new loaf of bread and began to make a variety of sandwiches, surprising her that he wasn’t making tacos.

_‘He probably knows that no one wants to eat at the table today.’_

Thinking of one particular skeleton in his room, she jumped from Blueberry’s shoulder and landed on the kitchen top. He eyed her quizzically, but continued to make sandwiches. Or at least he did, till she pushed the bottle of honey into his hand.

He picked it up, looking at her questioningly. “DID YOU WANT HONEY SANDWICHES Y/N?”

She shook her head, “I want you to apologise to Stretch and I thought this was a good peace offering.” Blueberry raised his eyebrow, before frowning at the bottle still in his hand.

Y/n continued, softly, “I know that he’s really sorry Blue. You should have seen him after you slammed your door.”

“I KNOW.” mumbled Blue, now instead gazing sadly at the honey. After a while, he sighed, tucking the bottle under an arm. “FINE,” he pointed a finger at her, “BUT YOU’VE GOT TO APOLOGISE TO PAPYRUS AND EDGE.”

“I was already planning to.”

“GOOD THEN.” He looked up at the roof, “THIS ISN’T GOING TO BE EASY.”

“Tell me about it.” she muttered, before moving towards the vent.

“Y/N!”

She looked back to see Blueberry holding up a quarter of a sandwich. “YOU NEED TO EAT TOO.”

“I’m not-“ She stopped; the look Blueberry was giving her told her there was no way she was skipping lunch today.

~*~

After Y/n and Blueberry shared a very quick lunch together, both had moved in different directions. As Blueberry headed upstairs, a bottle of honey in one hand and a plate of sandwiches in the other, Y/n entered the kitchen vent, trying to hear any clue that might hint where either Sans, Papyrus, Red or Edge had gone. She would apologise to Stretch later, but right now, it made sense for her to give the brothers their space.

As she moved further into the ventilation system, what she heard broke her heart; the sound of Papyrus quietly crying to himself and the quieter sound of Sans trying to comfort him.

Following the sounds of crying, Y/n popped out the vent that was opposite the closed basement door, where the continued sounds of Papyrus crying could be heard. Before she had a chance to knock, however, Sans came walking out, his arms holding multiple cleaning products and cleaning rags, smelling strongly on cleaning products himself.

He closed the door behind him with magic before looking down at her, watching her and waiting.

“I-I’m so sorry Sans.” She said quickly, imploring.

“what for?”

She looked up at him, confused. “For- for hurting Papyrus? I swear to you, I never meant to hurt him!”

“but you did y/n. the question i have for you now is; what are you going to do to fix it?”

“I-I-“ she eyes fell to her feet once again. “I don’t know.”

She stood there, twisting her hands again, keenly aware that Sans was still watching her as they both continued to hear Papyrus’s quiet sobs still echoing from the basement.

“Can-can I see him?” she looked up to Sans’s guarded expression, “Please. I-I have to tell him how sorry I am.” She looked at her feet, “I have to try and fix this.”

After a while, he shrugged. “paps is downstairs, still cleaning and i’m off to get more cleaning products.” The door swung open as his eye flared blue.

“Thank you Sans.” But as Y/n took a step towards the door, it swung closed again.

“y/n.” She looked up as he lowered himself closer to her, his expression dour. “don’t hurt him again. please.”

“I don’t mean to, I swear Sans. It was a stupid mistake and if I could take it all back, I would in a heartbeat!”

He continued to look at her, before nodding and standing up. His eye, once again, flashed blue and the basement cracked open.

“good luck kid. i’m rooting for ya.” He turned and left, walking away with his arm full of cleaning products.

Y/n squeezed past the basement door and took in her first look at Papyrus since he had run away earlier today.

Papyrus sat on the floor, surrounded by cleaning products and buckets filled with soapy water. He was currently holding his action figure in one hand and a cleaning rag in the other.

All while orange tinted tears slipped off his bony cheeks and landed on his still shaking hands.

“Papyrus.” she called softly out, slowly climbing down each step.

He looked up to her, his bottom jaw wobbling the moment he met her mournful eyes. He hastily whipped his eyes, under a failed attempt to appear composed. “Y-Y/N!” he croaked. “WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

She crumpled, burying her head in her hands as she fell to her knees, all of her sorrow poured out as she wailed into her clenched fits.

“I’m- I’m so sorry Papyrus!” she sobbed.

“WH-WHY ARE YOU CRYING?” Papyrus asked through his own tears.

“I hurt you!” She cried back.

“BUT THAT DOES- DOESN’T EXPLAIN WHY YOU’RE CRYING!”

“I hurt you and now you hate me!!”

The next thing she knew, she was picked up and enclosed by two wet gloves that smelled even more strongly on bleach and other cleaning products, gently but firmly wrapping around her body as Papyrus pressed her face to his wet cheek.

“I COULD NEVER HATE YOU Y/N!” He sobbed, “I THOUGHT YOU HATED ME!! THAT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE!! ISN'T TH-THAT WHY YOU M-MURDERED SIR PROUD?”

She threw her arms open and hugged as much of his face as she could, ignoring the orange tears that cascade over her arms. “No! That isn't true! It was j-just a dumb murder-mystery that failed because I’m stupid!! Of course I still want to be your friend!! You’re the best friend I have ever had!! You’re my best friend and I hurt you!! I’m so sorry Papyrus!!”

“Y/N!!”

They clung to each other on the basement steps, neither one aware nor caring how much time passed, both of them failing to notice the two separate times the basement door opened briefly before quickly closing again.

~*~

After a time, Y/n felt all cried out, her emotions wrung dry and yet feeling infinitely better than she had when she had first walked downstairs. Gently, she pressed herself away from Papyrus's tear-stained cheek to look into his huge eyes. “I’m so sorry that I covered Sir Proud in ketchup Papyrus and I’m sorry that I entered your room without asking.”

He smiled at her, his beam an echo of his usual smile, but miles better than what it had been before. “I FORGIVE YOU Y/N.”

She smiled back, before her expression fell again. “Please, let me help you clean him up. It’s the least I can do.” She realised something, asking him, “Wait, where is he?”

“OH!” Papyrus turned around and they both saw Sir Proud and the rag carelessly cast aside.

Keeping her in his cupped hands, Papyrus brought them both back to the place he previously sat, quickly picking up Sir Proud and the cleaning rag before sitting down in his previous position. Y/n jumped from his hand and landed on his knee, watching as he brought Sir Proud back into his lap.

“I’M, UM, I’M HAVING TROUBLE GETTING THE KETCHUP IN HIS JOINTS.” Papyrus admitted unhappily, lowering Sir Proud before her and pointing out several spots.

Y/n couldn’t see what he was talking about, but there did linger a tomato smell, so she was inclined to believe him. Smiling softly, she took the offered corner off a cleaning rag and wedge it into an arm joint, her small hands allowing her to reach places only she could.

“Papyrus, “ she started, offering the cloth back to Papyrus so that he could clean it for her after she had finished with the joint, “I just want you to know that if I knew that you hated germs like this, I would have never pranked you this way.”

Papyrus sighed, wringing out the cloth before handing it back to her. “I CERTAINLY DON’T LIKE GERMS, AND I’LL ADMIT THAT I’M PERHAPS MORE WORRIED ABOUT THEM THAN MOST MONSTERS, BUT I WAS MORE WORRIED ABOUT YOU THAN ANYTHING ELSE.”

“Me?” she asked, stopping in the motion of cleaning a leg joint to look at Papyrus in confusion.

Papyrus nodded seriously. “BEFORE WE CAME HERE, I USED TO HANG OUT WITH ANOTHER HUMAN FRIEND, FRISK, ALL THE TIME. ONE DAY, THE HUMAN GOT VERY SICK, VERY QUICKLY, AND I HONESTLY THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO FALL DOWN. I KEPT ASKING THE HUMAN DOCTORS WHY THEY COULDN’T JUST FIX MY FRIEND, WHY WASN’T MONSTER FOOD WORKING, AND A HUMAN DOCTOR EXPLAINED WHAT GERMS WERE TO ME.” He looked away, “I HAD NEVER FELT SO SCARED, SO HELPLESS BEFORE.”

Y/n gently patted his knee, trying to comfort him.

Quickly, he looked back at her. “I’M OKAY NOW! IN FACT, SEEING THE HUMAN PULL THROUGH THAT PROVED TO ME THAT HUMANS ARE QUITE STRONG! IT HELPED ME REALISE THAT ALL I HAD TO DO WAS BELIEVE IN MY FRIEND, OFFER THEM AS MUCH SPAGHETTI AS I COULD COOK, AND EVERYTHING WOULD TURN OUT OKAY! ” He looked at her meaningfully, “BUT I NEVER EVER WANTED TO GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN. SO NOW I AM ALWAYS VIGILANT ABOUT GERMS, WHEREVER I GO.” He lowered his hand before raising her to his eye level after she stepped on. “PARTICULARLY IF THEY COULD HURT MY DEAREST FRIENDS.”

She looked away, “Thank you Papyrus.” She chuckled quietly to herself, “I guess that explains why you’re so neat all the time.”

“WELL, THAT’S JUST PROPER FOR GREAT MONSTERS, LIKE MYSELF!” He beamed, posing.

She laughed gently, noticing how his smile widen as she did so. Thinking about his story, she asked “Papyrus, why don’t you see this friend of yours more often? You know you could always bring them here, right?”

Before he had a chance to reply, the basement door open and Sans came walking down, a bag of fast-food in one hand.

Sans smiled at the pair of them, his grin more natural now and closer to what it had been like before today. “hey paps, hey y/n. dinner tonight going to be fast-food.”

“SANS!” Papyrus cried, placing Y/n on his shoulder and standing up, Sir Proud in one hand, “DINNER TONIGHT WILL NOT BE FAST-FOOD BECAUSE I STILL PLAN TO COOK IT!”

“bro, do you know what time it is?”

Papyrus paused in mid rebuttal, before quickly pulling out his phone. Both Y/n and Papyrus noted the time, realising that it was far too late to start cooking dinner, a fact that was obvious to anyone.

Gently rubbing the side of Papyrus’s head, Y/n said, “Sorry that we can’t cook tonight Paps, but there’s always tomorrow.”

“I GUESS SO.” Papyrus replied, looking disappointed as he put his phone away.

“don’t worry bro, i got you something that you liked.” Sans held up the bag, “do you remember that italian place with that fancy pasta you like?”

“THE ONE WITH LITTLE BOWS IN IT?!” Papyrus said, his eyes sparkling as he took the offered bag.

“yep.” grinned Sans, beaming at his brother’s reaction. “i figured we could watch a couple of mettaton’s movies together.” He looked over at Y/n, “you’re more than welcomes to join us y/n. i got us your favourite pizza we can share together.”

“YOU CAN SHARE WITH ME TOO Y/N!” Papyrus added, hope sparkling in his eyes.

“What’s everyone else having?” Y/n asked, looking over at Sans.

He shrugged, “i think blue took stretch to muffet's awhile ago, so they’re looking after themselves tonight.”

“STILL BETTER THAN GRILLBY'S I SAY.” Papyrus quickly added.

“i haven’t seen red all day,” Sans continued,  “and edge is still out the back, practising with the dummy.”

“Edge’s been at the back all day?” she asked, disheartened.

Sans nodded.

She sighed, before turning to Papyrus. “I still need to apologise to him.”

“YOU CAN ALWAYS SAY THAT YOU'RE SORRY AFTER YOU’VE HAD SOMETHING QUICK TO EAT.” Papyrus said hopefully, but without any real belief she would agree.

“And leave Edge outside, still angry?” She shook her head, “It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”

Papyrus sighed, but nodded, moving to climb the basement stairs out, Sans following. He moved to the living room, where a pizza box sat and a selection of movies waited next to the television. Looking at their names (all containing the word ‘Mettaton’), Y/n quickly realised that these were probably monster movies. Something that, if today had been a regular day, she would have dearly liked to watch with the rest of her skeleton friends.

Grimacing, she leapt off Papyrus’s shoulder as he looked over the movies, making her way to the back door.

“you’re going to be okay kid?” Sans asked somewhere behind her.

She turned away from the back door to see both brothers watching her, their faces filled with concern.

She smiled gently, “I’m much better than I was earlier today, and this is something I need to do. I owe Edge an apology.” She pointed over her shoulder, “Can one of you get the door for me?”

“I WILL!” Papyrus quickly ran over, opening the door wide. “THE SOONER YOU APOLOGISE, THE SOONER YOU CAN COME BACK AND WATCH THE GREATEST ACTOR THAT HAS EVER LIVED!”

“No promises Paps.” She moved outside, looking away from Edge in the distance to look seriously at the concerned skeleton brothers. “Just give us some space guys. Please?”

Papyrus fiddled with his gloves. “O-OKAY Y/N. IF YOU’RE SURE.”

“we’ll be right here kid.” Sans said, seriously, “just shout out and we’ll be right there.”

Nodding, she turned and walked towards Edge, hearing the faint sound of the door closing behind her. From here, she could see Edge furiously attacking the dummy, the backyard around him covered in numerous jagged red-bones. Determined, Y/n began the long trek towards him, moving around the bones and keenly aware that even more bones were being flung away from Edge's hand, piercing the ground.

"Edge!" she called out, when she felt close enough.

He ignored her, instead viciously plunging his current weapon into the dummy's neck.

"Edge, please! I'm sorry-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT VERMIN!!" Edge yelled, summoning another weapon, "LEAVE ME!"

She continued to walk towards him, "Not until you give me a chance to apologise, Edge."

Edge flung the bone weapon at her, piercing the ground in front of her and blocking her progress forward. "I SAID LEAVE ME!!"

She stepped around the bone slowly, her hands held out employing, "I'm not leaving till you've let-"

**"I SAID LEAVE ME!!!"**

In an instant, a red glow encompassed her entire body and flung her away from Edge before she even had the chance to acknowledge she was flying sideways.

*THUD*

Y/n hit the workshop's wall hard, crumpling into a heap at its base and lay still, her eyes tightly clenched from the immense pain that consumed all her senses.

"Y/N!!!"

Concussed, confused and in pain, Y/n felt clawed hand scooping her up and lift her.

The hands shook.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! I'M SORRY Y/N!"

The hands the held her tightened around her, at it felt like whoever had her began to ran. Soon, she heard the sound of the garage door rolling up, a lightswitch flinching on, a car unlocking and a boot popping open, before she was gently lowered onto the hard, fuzzy surface of a typical car boot.

Slowly, Y/n opened her eyes to a blurry vision, the garage lights hurting her eyes. Through the blur of colours and pain, she saw the looming shape of Edge leaning over her, toying with something further back in the car boot. Judging by the sounds, it was most likely a metal box.

Her vision swam and her stomach twisted, forcing her to close her eyes to help alleviate some of the nausea feeling and the stinging ache from the light. Everything hurt and thinking was even more painful.

The pain of anti-septic wound medicine on a cut on her forehead brought briefly clarity as well as a scream of agony from her.

"Y/N!"

The pain's source was instantly removed and Y/n brought up her hands up to cover the wound from further aggravation as her instincts made her curl into a ball to protect herself.

She felt something being places near her, followed by a tapping sound and a short dial tone.

"SANS! COME HOME RIGHT NOW! I'M BY MY CAR!" Edge said in a frenzy.

"what's the problem bo-? y/n!" Red's voice suddenly cried out somewhere besides Edge, quickly moving in closer. "papyrus! what happened? why's she bleedin'?!"

“I- I-. SHE HIT THE WORKSHOP WALL HARD! I TRIED TO CLEAN THE WOUND, BUT SHE SCREAMED AND JERKED VIOLENTLY, AND I’M WORRIED THAT SHE MIGHT HAVE A CONCUSSION! I-I NEED YOU TO HOLD HER WHILE I-!“

“boss! calm down!”

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!! SHE MIGHT HAVE INTERNAL BLEED-!“

“boss! remember, we’re not- things are different here! monster food actually heals!”

“IT DOES?!” Edge’s voice returned back to its harsh tone, “WELL THEN GO GET SOME! THIS VERY INSTANCE!!”

“i’m going! it’s gonna take some time as everythin’s closed. just, calm down and take deep breaths, okay?”

“I’LL BE CALMER WHEN YOU’VE STOPPED WASTING TIME AND BRING ME BACK WHAT I’VE ASKED FOR!!”

Red didn’t respond, and after a while, Edge gave a low growl of frustration.

Before long, Y/n felt sharp fingers attempting to pry her to unclench, making her hitch her breath as the new sensation brought iration and caused her splitting headache to throb.

“Y/N,” Edge said, the most gentle he had ever spoken her name, “I-I NEED TO CHECK YOU. I’VE GOT TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE- THAT YOU’RE-“

He didn’t finish his sentence and his removed his hands.

Y/n continued to listen for any indications what else Edge was doing, but he had fallen into silence, allowing her a chance to process what just happened to her.

_‘He-he attacked me.’_

Everything she feared about her size and the power of everyone else in the entire world could be summed up right here. Her powerless to do anything, the overwhelming strength and capabilities of people who could so hurt easily her, even if they hadn’t meant to, demonstrated just how dependent she was on their mercy. She already knew Edge, particularly if he had managed to get her when they first met, wouldn’t have been merciful. She should hate and especially fear him right now, cowering in terror that she was currently alone with this monster and beyond the help of Sans or Papyrus now, wherever he had taken her.

So why did she keep replaying the scene after she hit the wall in her mind? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about every word, every expression of deep concern and regret Edge had used that had followed?

_‘This isn’t the same skeleton I first met.’_

Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to uncurl, to relax. Eyes tightly closed, she nodded as she rolled onto her back.

“W-WHY ARE YOU NODDING?” Edge asked, still in the same shaky voice he had used before.

She took a deep, slow breath. “I’m trying to show you that I’m willing to work with you, to allow you to check me.” She cracked an eye open briefly, “That I trust you.”

There was nothing but stunned silence, as everything everywhere seemed to just stop.

“Edge?” She asked with her eyes still firmly closed as her stomach continued to twist and her head throbbed painfully with every heartbeat.

“WHY?”

She opened her eyes to see Edge glaring forlornly at her.

“I’VE HURT YOU. PHYSICALLY HURT YOU.” His fists clenched, “YOU SHOULD HATE AND FEAR ME.”

She pressed herself up. “I don’t ha- *Hhg-Blaaagh!*”

She vomited off to the side, felt it soaking through the side of her pants.

“Y/N?! ARE YOU OKAY!?”

She giggled bitterly, wiping her mouth, “Sorry about the car Edge.”

He waved her off, “IT HARDLY MATTERS.” A cool, wet cloth was pressed into her hands. “AT LEAST YOUR TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOUR AND BAD TIMING APPEARS TO BE INTACT.”

“Thank you Edge.” she said gratefully, wiping her mouth.

“IF YOU CAN SIT UP, YOU MIGHT JUST HAVE A MILD CONCUSSION. STILL, YOU SHOULD LIE BACK DOWN.”

“Any chance you can move me to a different spot?” She felt she didn’t need to mention the smell or sensations that were still seeping into her clothes.

Rather than answer, Edge gently scooped her up. After a brief moment of hesitation, she was once again lowered, but this time onto a towel. Before she could settle again, a cold sensation was placed firmly on her head, at first making her flinch from the unexpected sensation but then quickly bringing relief as she gave a grateful sigh.

“KEEP THE PACK ON YOUR HEAD. IT SHOULD HELP WITH THE PAIN WHILE I CHECK YOU.” He said, taking off his gloves.

She chuckled as she watched Edge pick up her wrist between his bare phalanges. “I’m surprised you know this much about human first aide.”

“I KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT SIGNS LEAD TO DEATH. LET’S LEAVE IT AT THAT. “ He admitted, firmly but gently dropping her wrist after a while.

She shrugged, settling into the towel as Edge continued to check her vitals. Between throwing up and the cold-pack, she felt leagues better than what she had been. True that her body deeply ached and she was sure she’d feel it tomorrow, but it was now at least a manageable pain.

Now she could apologise without the fear of throwing up.

“I don’t hate you.” She said quietly after a time, looking up at him.

Edge looked sharply at her, before looking away, scoffing. “OF COURSE YOU HATE ME. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE OTHERWISE. MUST BE THE CONCUSSION AFFECTING YOUR-“

“I don’t hate you,” she said louder, speaking over him, slowly and carefully pushing herself up again, “because I’ve been fearing you hated me all day. In fact, when you attacked me, I thought you were doing so because you hated me that much,” She looked away, “and I would have deserved it too.”

“I DIDN’T ATTACK YOU BECAUSE I HATE YOU!” He began to pace before her, “I ATTACKED BECAUSE I GET SO ANGRY, SO MAD THAT I DON’T KNOW- I CAN’T- AND YOU-“ He threw his arms up into the air, “GAH! I HATE THIS FEELING!! I SHOULD BE BETTER AT CONTROLLING MY EMOTIONS THAN THIS!! THIS IS SUCH DESPICABLE BEHAVIOUR FOR THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! IT’S PATHETIC, THAT’S WHAT THIS IS! AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENS?! I ALWAYS MAKE SITUATIONS WORSE WHEN I’M LIKE THIS!!”

“It isn’t pathetic, its how you honestly feel.” Edge quickly turned back to face her, his face twisted with raw, conflicting emotions. “And I know that you honestly feel regret for what you did because there’s no way someone who meant to do this on purpose would be so distraught, so emotionally charged if they had hurt me on purpose. That why, even though I’m in pain right now, I still trust you, still believe you’d never hurt me on purpose. That this was an accident, and one that we’ll both make sure never happens again!”

“I SHOULD HAVE NEVER-!“

“And I should have given you your space, particularly when you asked for it. We’ve both made mistakes today, but as long as we both learn from this, we’ll be okay. Right?”

They stared at each other, each lost in their own thoughts as they acknowledged something new about each other and the situation.

The sound of Blueberry’s motorcycle interrupted their thoughts as both looked towards the driveway, the motorcycle’s headlights beaming in from a distance.

A look of fear came over Edge as he looked back towards Y/n.

“Just act natural and close the boot.”

“WHY WOULDN’T YOU-?”

“There’s no time Edge! Quick!”

Nodding, Edge quickly lowered the boot, surprising Y/n when he didn’t close it properly. Before long, the sound on another garage door rolling up and the motor rumbling close by as Blueberry most likely pulled his motorcycle alongside Edge’s car.

“EDGE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE AT THIS HOUR?” Blueberry asked brightly, somewhere nearby.

“JUST CHECKING MY CAR.” Edge’s tone was very guarded.

“is that so?” asked Stretch casually.

“IT IS ASHTRAY!”

“SO, UM, HAS Y/N APOLOGISED TO YOU YET? I KNOW THAT SHE WAS REALLY SORRY ABOUT THE PRANK EDGE.”

Edge didn’t respond and Y/n couldn’t see anything that was happening just beyond her vision.

Blueberry sighed. “LOOK, I KNOW THAT YOU’RE ANGRY WITH Y/N, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD AT LEAST HEAR HER OUT. SHE WAS SO SAD WHEN I LAST SAW HER.”

“I-I’LL- I'LL TRY.” Edge finished weakly.

There was a moment of intense pause.

“well bro, i think it’s time we heading inside.”

“YES! PAPYRUS SAID THAT HE ALREADY MID-WAY THROUGH METTATON’S EXPANDED UNIVERSE SERIES!”

“he’s not as cool as nasptablook, is he?” Stretch asked, with a chuckle.

Blueberry scoffed, “WELL OF COURSE! NO ONE IS AS GOOD AS THAT!”

Stretch chuckled again as the sound of a garage door sliding closed, separating Blueberry’s response to hurry up.

Or at least till he apparently met Red outside.

“RED! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Blueberry asked, his voice muffled by the garage door now.

“i just went out and got somethin’ for the boss.” Replied Red’s equally muffled voice.

“OH, OKAY! WE’RE HEADING INSIDE TO WATCH MOVIES WITH PAPYRUS AND SANS. YOU TWO SHOULD JOIN US!”

“we might have to pass on that blue.”

“OH.”

“yeah. well, see’ya.”

“OKAY THEN. BYE!”

“see ya later red.” Stretch said with a smile in his tone, muffled.

There was the sound of the last garage door sliding close.

“WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!” Edge asked, opening up the boot properly.

“i was as quick as i could be boss.” Red asked, stepping into Y/n’s line of view. He smiled when their eyes meet, his expression much softer. “hey there babydoll. how ya goin'?”

“I’ve been better.” She admitted.  She looked over at Edge, who had been standing back, watching them, “But Edge’s been really helping me.”

Edge’s frown deepened.

Red held up a clear bag, a brightly coloured lolly inside. “hopefully this will heal ya more.”

“OH FOR STARS' SAKE!”

Edge reached over and grabbed the bag from Red’s hand. He quickly crushed the lolly inside with his hands (at some point he had put his gloves back), before tearing the packet open and fetching out a large piece. He pressed this piece into her hands. “EAT THIS.” He commended.

Y/n briefly looked at the piece quizzically, before quickly popping it into her mouth. She had heard that monster food had great healing properties (already the medical field had greatly benefited from working alongside monsters, all but abolishing all emergency rooms), but she knew that there were limits.

It was why she wasn’t surprised when Papyrus told her about his human friend getting sicker; monster food could only fix what was broken, not natural mutations like viruses and cancers.

Any doubt she had instantly left when the lolly simply vanished in her mouth, her aches and pains disappearing alongside it.

Laughing, she jumped up, stretching her muscles that had just been stiffening moments ago, glad to be free of her throbbing headache. Even the cut of her forehead was gone, leaving behind drying blood and flawless skin.

“why did you hide? why not speak out and have blue and stretch take you away?”

Red’s question threw her and she quickly looked up to see the two brothers watching her stretching her muscles, their expressions guarded.

“Because,” she said, slowly and carefully, “this was an accident.” She met Edge eyes seriously, “One that will never happen again.”

He nodded firmly, his arms tightly folded.

She returned her attention to Red, who was continuing to stare at her in disbelief “Edge and I talked, and I think we both understand what we did wrong, and I believe we’ll both be taking steps to make sure nothing like that happens again.” She shrugged, “Look, I can either hold a grudge over something that was obviously an emotional outburst and entirely accident, or I can learn from this and acknowledge my mistake in all this.” She looked away, “after all, it’s my fault Edge was so angry in the first place.”

She looked to Edge, “Now can I apologise to you?”

“NOT BEFORE I DO.” Edge lowered his face, reaching her eye level and shocked expression. “I- I’M.” He looked away, “I REGRET HURTING YOU Y/N. IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN.”

She chuckled, still somewhat surprised, “Can’t even say sorry, can you?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, “DON’T PRESS YOUR LUCK, PEST.”

She chuckled again, but didn’t say anything. She already knew how sorry he was; his panicked, blurted apology from earlier still rang clear in her mind.

Edge straightened, before looking over to his flabbergasted brother. “I’M STILL ANGRY AT YOU, HOWEVER.”

“boss-“

Edge narrowed his eyes at Red, who shrank into his jacket. “GO INSIDE BEFORE I THROW YOU THERE.”

Red nodded, throwing a last glance at Y/n before disappearing from sight.

“You should apologise to your brother as well.” She looked up into Edge’s scowling face, “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Edge began to pack away the medical supplies he had used to help her, as well as the packet containing the remains of the monster lolly, throwing each item with more force than was necessary away. “HOW IS THIS ENTIRE SORRY AFFAIR NOT THE FAULT OF MY PERVERTED BROTHER?!”

“Because I’m the one who did the thing you’re angry about?” she replied, unsure. “How could you possibly believe this is Red’s fault?”

“IF HE HADN’T BROUGHT THAT REVOLTING BIKINI, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE HAD EASY ACCESS TO SUCH SHAMEFUL CLOTHING!” Edge scowled, angrily tossing away the towel he had just used to clean up her vomit to the garage floor.

She sighed, “True, but why stop there? Why not blame the guy who delivered the package, or the guy who sold it to him in the first place? How about the person who made the damn thing or the guy who grew the material? Hell, let’s blame the person who ever came up with the design first!” She looked sharply at Edge, “Or you can blame the person who physically took the bikini, tied it to the action figure that they knew you liked, and took a photo with the sole purpose of annoying you?”

They glared at each other for a time, before Edge huffed and looked away. “WELL, I’M STILL WAITING FOR MY APOLOGY.”

She smiled, “I’m sorry that I entered your room to put a bikini on your action figure and taking a picture of it. If it helps, I’ve already deleted the photo and I never sent it to anyone else.”

“GOOD!”

“Now, about that apology you owe Red?”

Edge folded his arms firmly, but didn’t say anything.

“Come on Edge. You know that you were in the wrong here too.” She looked away, “It would really mean a lot to me to see you two back to normal.”

Edge rolled his eyes, before lowering his hand before her, allowing Y/n a chance to hop on after a moment of hesitation of her part. “THIS IS NORMAL FOR US.” He muttered, levelling his hand out to his shoulder as she climbed across and settled there.

“So apologise already so that we can have dinner. Afterwards, I want to help you put together the Black Knight…if you’ll allow me to help, of course.”

“I CAN’T SEE HOW YOU COULD HELP,” Edge said, rolling up the garage door and ignoring Y/n’s hurt expression, “BUT I’LL GUESS I’LL ALLOW YOU THE CHANCE TO TRY.”

As Edge turned off the light and closed the garage door behind him, Y/n could see what appeared to be Red leaning casually against the other garage door, smiling gently. When Edge noticed him there, he stiffened, before relaxing.

“YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME, BROTHER.” He said, narrowing his eyes at Red

Red shrugged, looking over at Y/n and Edge, “i do when it matters.”

Edge looked away, refusing to make eye contact as he stood in the evening darkness, his arms folded. For Y/n, the only thing she could clearly see in the evening light was the brothers’ glowing red eye lights, yet she suspected they didn’t have the same problem.

After a while, Edge huffed and turned to look down at Red, who was smiling gently up at him. “LISTEN SA- RED. I WAS- I DIDN’T MEAN- WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY-“

Red chuckled gently, waving him off. “i get it boss. we’re good.”

Edge sighed, before turning to Y/n, “THERE! IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?!”

She laughed, “I swear, I’m still trying to understand you two.”

Red and Edge moved towards the front door, walking side by side under the starry sky.

“i wouldn’t worry so much about us or that action figure baby doll. boss had it since he was just a kid.” Red chuckled, “not the first time that guy had his head removed, is it boss?”

“ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO BRING UP WHAT I DID WHEN I WAS JUST A CHILD!? FOR STAR’S SAKE, I WAS JUST A BABY BONES!”

Red laughed, and for Y/n it was nice to see Edge smile gently, apparently at ease.

The two continued to bicker until they approached the front door’s light, falling into silence upon entering.

Red looked around the apparently empty hall, the sounds of a movie coming from the living room. “everyone else is supposed to be takin’ care of themselves for dinner tonight and watchin’ movies.” He looked up at Edge, “what me to pop out and grab you somethin’? maybe somethin’ from that italian place?”

Edge shook his head, moving to the kitchen, “IF I WANTED SOMETHING, I’D HEAD OUT FOR MYSELF.” He opened the fridge door, evaluating the contents, “I’M JUST MAKING SURE Y/N GETS SOMETHING TO EAT AND SOME WATER, BEFORE I CALL IT A NIGHT MYSELF.”

“red?” called out Sans’s voice from the dining room, “can you come here for a sec? there’s something stretch and i would like your opinion on.”

Rolling his eyes, Red sat heavily onto one of the kitchen chairs, leaning back with a sigh. “i ain’t discussin’ anything tonight except where the best place to get some fire whiskey is and where the softest places to crash are.”

“it’s not about the machine red.” Stretch called out, his voice coming from the same direction as Sans’s, “i really think you’re going to want to weigh in here.”

Growling, Red pushed himself up and moved towards the pair’s direction, muttering dark curses under his breath.

Edge, meanwhile, was digging deeper into the fridge, still searching.

“Edge, it's fine. Sans said that there was pizza for me if I wanted it. Look, there it is.” She said, pointing to the triangle piece wrapped in foil on the top shelf.

Edge scoffed, “YOU NEED A PROPER MEAL AND FRESH WATER. NOT THAT GARBAGE!”

She sighed heavily, “Edge, come on, I’m tired too. Let me just have that and you can cook a wonderful, perfect breakfast tomorrow to makeup for it.”

Before he could reply, Red poked his head in, a huge grin on his face. “Y/n?, can you come and speak with us for a quick sec?”

Red using her name alone set her on high alert, but she nodded. He moved towards her, looking from her to his brother.

Sighing, Edge raised his hand and lowered it to Red’s shoulder, allowing Y/n to hop on and off to Red. “JUST MAKE SURE SHE HAS SOMETHING TO EAT BEFORE SHE GOES TO BED.” Edge commanded, placing his other hand on his brother’s shoulder firmly.

Red nodded.

Apparently satisfied, Edge walked out of the kitchen and head for the stairs. Red followed his brother out of the kitchen and watched him disappear upstairs, before walking into the dining room.

Sans and Stretch were already sitting there, smiling when they saw her.

“Look, before you guys say whatever it is you want to me, I just want to let you know how sorry I am.”

She jumped off Red’s shoulder as he settled into a nearby chair, moving so that she could see all three of them equally. “I should have known better than to enter anyone’s room without permission and I swear that I’ve learned my lesson.” She looked away, “But what I’m most sorry about is all the harm I caused today.” She quickly turned to face them, “I swear, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen and I’m really sorry.”

Sans looked from Stretch to Red, all three of them smiling, “thanks y/n, and we do appreciate what you’ve done to help make up for your mistake today, but we were wondering if you’d be prepared to do something for us, to make it up to me, stretch and red specifically?”

“L-like what?” she asked, taking a step back as she was faced with three, mischief grins.

“we’d like if you’d come out with us and our brothers tomorrow, out of this house. we were thinking that we could all do with a break from the house and work, and have a fun day out.” 

She nodded slowly, “s-sure, I-I ca-can do th-that. Wh-where were y-you thinking?”

Sans leaned in, “the beach.”

 

Next chapter is called: ‘Fun’ in the Sun

**Fan Art?! (Since when!?!)**

**Kanisaur-** [These Awesome Pics!](https://kanisaur.tumblr.com/post/169961291649/i-wanted-to-make-fanart-for-rnd-injustices)

 **DragonRose-** [Salty Sans!](https://dragonrose00.tumblr.com/post/171440706506/i-did-some-fan-art-for-rnd-injustice-and-their)

 **JellyBellyRulez** -[Awesome collarge!](https://official-jellybellyrulez-acc.tumblr.com/post/171415298703/fanart-for-rnd-injustice-s-fic-bitty-hunt-d)

**Fan Stories!?! (What's happening!?)**

**CallMeKeef** \- [Scared Out of Our Skin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13845987/chapters/31844910)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School sucks!  
> Sorry, it had to be said. I actually missed updating mid-way through, but I'm happy with these chapters!  
> Anyway, if you want to give fan art/stories....I love you. Seriously, here's my heart.
> 
> And if I’ve committed an ultimate sin and spelled one of my beloveds’ names wrong, or worse, forgot to include you (I’M SO SORRY!), please tell me!  
> See ya for the next update! (It’s close to April Fools, isn’t it? Hmmm)


	11. ‘Fun' in the Sun, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now, I know that today is Sunday, but I wanted to do something fun for this day, so I thought, 'why not?'  
> And here we are!  
> Oh, and as an added bonus, I want you to ask yourself, 'Is this the first Saturday of the month?'  
> What's that? It isn't?  
> Huh, guess I'll have to update again when it is then, right? =)
> 
> Oh, and sorry to the few people who knew that I sort of....went overboard with Bitty Hunt's word length. I wasn't happy giving people something that was double the length, so I rationalised it by making sure the next update would come within a week...plus other chapter updates. 
> 
> Hope that's okay?

Y/n sat nervously on the front door’s window sill, watching the skeletons excitedly chat to each other as they finished packing the two cars with beach supplies. She could feel herself regretting this already, beyond tense at the prospect of leaving her home for the first since the court hearings. Yet, looking at how excitedly Papyrus and Blueberry kept waving back over at her, Sans, Stretch and Red laughing with each other as they told bad beach puns, confirmed to her that this was exactly what they needed after the drama of yesterday. Even Edge was yelling less today, what with him actually allowing Papyrus and Blueberry to help pack his car.

After Sans, Stretch, Red and Y/n had returned last night to the living room, where Papyrus and Blueberry were debating which movie was better, and told them that Y/n had agreed to go to the beach the next morning, the pair had squeed so loudly that Edge had come back down and started yelling about their excessive noise and how he should be allowed to file a noise complaint against them. Before Edge could get very far into his speech about mandatory shock collars for skeletons who received multiple noise complaints, the pair had gleefully repeated the news in admits babbling and talking over each other in their excitement, much to Edge’s very obvious shock. Edge had then looked quickly to Y/n for confirmation, before blatantly asking why she had agreed to this.  It had fallen to her to explain that she wanted to make it up to them, and that she honestly could see the value of a fun day out, particularly after the day’s…mistakes.

Why Sans, Stretch and Red had chosen the beach, of all places, was beyond her, but regardless of where they could have possibly chosen, she was bound to be this nervous.

 _‘How long has it been since I went to a beach?’_ she thought, with a start. _‘I think it was-‘_

“Y/N!”

Startled from her thoughts, she saw Papyrus and Blueberry positively beaming down at her and quite shocked that she failed to notice them approaching. All the skeletons were wearing simple tops and board shorts, but even then, Papyrus and Blueberry had managed to wear bright, eye-catching clothing.

_‘I must be more tightly wound than I suspected if I didn’t see these two coming towards me.’_

She thought about her bag she had decided to leave behind just for today, the raggiest shirt and pants she was currently wearing over her bikini she wasn’t confident she could pull off. Perhaps if she brought along her bag, or maybe went back inside and grab her best clothes instead, she wouldn’t be this nervous. But she was still waiting for her clothes she ordered online to come in, and after the dryer had destroyed most of her hand-made clothes-

“Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY?”

She flinched out of her thoughts again, looking up to see Papyrus and Blueberry’s expressions had changed into concern, both watching her intently.

She chuckled nervously, “Heh, I’m-I’m fine guys! Really!”

Neither one of them looked convinced.

Hoping to distract them, she asked, “What did you guys want from me? Need me to help pack?”

“OH! NO, WE’RE OKAY! WE’RE WERE JUST WONDERING WHICH CAR YOU WANTED TO TRAVEL IN?”

Y/n looked from Blueberry’s eager face to Papyrus’s, “Oh, well I hadn’t thought-“

“OH PLEASE SAY YOU’LL COME WITH ME!” Blueberry asked, literal stars in his eyes.

“COME WITH US.” corrected Papyrus, narrowing his eyes at Blueberry.

She chuckled, her tension briefly leaving as she watched Blueberry swiftly turn to stare up at Papyrus, attempting to match his height. “OF COURSE…PAPYRUS. WITH US.” He turned to smile at Y/n, “HOWEVER, IF ONE OF US IS DRIVING, THEN IT ONLY MAKES LOGICAL SENSE THAT SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP Y/N COMPANY! AND SINCE I’M NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE MY MOTORCYCLE-“

“If you two are going to fight like this, I’ll go with Edge and in his car.” Y/n chastised, folding her arms.

They both gasped in horror.

“NO! WE’LL BE ON OUR BEST BEHAVIOUR!”

“LOOK! WE’RE GETTING ALONG SO WELL!”

In the next instance, Blueberry leapt into Papyrus arms, who proceeded to spin them both in circles. It ended with Blueberry and Papyrus slinging an arm over each other shoulder, throwing the other out with flair.

“SEE?!” cried Blueberry, forcing his biggest smile, “WE’RE GETTING ALONG!”

“BEST BEACH BUDDIES!” Papyrus added, matching Blueberry smile.

“you two should have just waved.” called out Sans, Stretch and Red snickering beside him.

“IF ANYONE PUNS IN MY CAR WHILE I AM DRIVING, THEY WILL BE VIOLENTLY CAST OUT FROM IT!” yelled Edge, slamming his boot shut.

“sounds like we’d be on a roll.” Stretch grinned, putting out his cigarette

Edge wheeled on him, pointing, “I MEAN IT ASHTRAY! GIVE ME JUST ONE REASON-!”

“Guess that means we’re ready to go.“ Y/n interrupted, standing swiftly.

Quickly, she put her arms behind her back, hiding her clenched hands, willing her heart and her breathing to slow.

_‘Don’t ruin this for them! You trust them, yes? Then trust that you’ll be back, that they’ll keep you safe and try to relax!’_

“SO, DOES THAT MEAN YOU WANT TO GO IN MY CAR?” asked Papyrus, his hands brought up to his face in hopeful anticipation.

She shrugged, “Sure.” She looked past them to see Edge watching for a distance, “Assuming that’s okay with you Edge?”

“IT’S PERFECTLY FINE.” Edge said through clenched fang, swiftly turning away.

“I’ll ride in your car on the way back, how does that sound?” she asked, noticing his tense posture.

“THAT’S NOT-“ he stopped himself with a sigh of frustration. Instead, he pointed to Blueberry, “BE ON YOUR BEST BEHAVIOUR, BABY BONES!”

“WHAT’S THE SUPPOSE TO MEAN!?” cried out Blueberry, indigent.

“EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS, YOU SCHEMING LITTLE-

“alright edge, that’s enough.” Stretch interpreted, striding towards him and his car. When he reached it, he cheekily smiled over at Edge, leaning heavily on the bonnet. “shotgun?” he asked, quirking his brow.

“forget it ashtray, ain’t no one but me rides up front in boss’s car.” Red smirked, suddenly appearing in the front passenger seat

“guess that means you’re with us kid.” Sans smiled at her, slowly coming towards her.

“Guess so.” she agreed.

As Sans stood next to his brother, Blueberry quickly lowered a hand before her, stars still in his eyes. When she stepped onto his bare palm, she couldn't notice the subtle flinch and giggle that came from him.

_‘Guess he hardly ever takes off his gloves, seeing as how he’s this ticklish.’_

Before long, she clung to Blueberry’s shoulder as he skipped behind Papyrus and Sans, walking towards Papyrus's packed, red sports car.

“BUCKLE UP!” Papyrus said cheerfully from the front seat as everyone settled in.

“How?” she asked, looking around her from Blueberry’s shoulder

Everyone stopped, looking at each other.

“WE-WE CAN’T LEAVE TILL EVERYONE’S BUCKLED IN.” Papyrus said quietly, looking worried, “IT’S THE LAW.”

“I CAN ALWAYS HOLD YOU!” offered Blueberry, a slight blush on his cheeks.

*HONK HONK!* Came the sound from Edge’s car, right behind them.

She sighed, “Look, as long as you aren’t doing wheelies or taking sharp turns really fast, I should be fine sitting on the parcel shelf, right?”

Papyrus gasped, turning around from the front seat to stare, offended at her, “Y/N! I WOULD NEVER BE SO RECKLESS!”

She smiled, “I know, that’s why I’m saying it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Papyrus and Blueberry looked at each other, concern etched on their skulls.

*HONK! **HOONK**!*

“you _auto_ know better than to test edge’s _suspension_ like this paps.” grinned Sans, playfully nudging him.

Papyrus's only response was to cling to his steering wheel tighter.

“Okay, I’ve decided I’m risking it!”

Before Blueberry could stop her, she leapt from his shoulder and made her way to the parcel shelf, sitting down stubbornly.

“BUT Y/N!” cried Blueberry, looking really disappointed.

“If we don’t leave soon, Edge will probably start ramming our car. Is that safer?”

Papyrus watched her from the rear-view mirror, still obviously concerned.

“paps, don’t worry, she’s tough. remember what we said yesterday?” Sans said gently, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Gently, she smiled at his reflected eyes, “It’s okay Papyrus, I trust your driving capabilities.”

He looked at her for a long seconded, before nodding, starting up the engine.

Y/n quickly looked behind her as the car began to move forward, watching her house shirking at an alarming rate. Already she wanted to go home, to make something up so that the cars would turn around and she could sneak back inside, maybe hide out in the attic for a few days.

“Y/N! ISN’T THIS EXCITING!” cried Blueberry, spinning around in his seat to look at her.

Taking a deep breath, she smiled and turned to face him. “Of course it is! Tell me, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when we get there?”

Blueberry’s eyes lit up, “WELL, THERE VERY FIRST THING THAT ANY PROPER MONSTER SHOULD DO WOULD BE TO LOCATE THE VERY BEST SPOT ON THE BEACH!”

“I AGREE!” added Papyrus eagerly, eyes firmly on the road, “AND WE’LL NEED TO GET SURE WE GET THERE IN GOOD TIME, OTHERWISE ALL THE BEST SPOTS WILL ALREADY BE TAKEN!”

“What makes a good spot?” she asked, hoping to keep the attention off her and her growing feeling of estrangement.

Blueberry beamed, lifting his head confidently. “IT’S ALL ABOUT WHERE THE SEA IS AND WHERE OTHER PEOPLE SEAT THEMSELVES UP ARE-“

“IT’S ALSO ABOUT WHERE THE CAR PARKS ARE, NEARBY SHOPS AND SHOWERS-“ Papyrus added quickly.

“I’M JUST ABOUT TO GET TO THOSE!

“BUT YOU DIDN’T MENTION THEM FIRST!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE IMPORTANT, BUT NOT AS IMPORTANT AS MEASURING THE PRECISE DISTANCE FROM THE SAND TO THE SEA-“

“WHICH YOU CAN ONLY DO ONCE YOU NARROWED THE POSSIBLE CHOICES DOWN BY-“

Y/n sighed, smiling gently as she turned back to see her home, now nothing but random bits of colour through the trees. She still felt wrong, unnerved and unsettled, and that feeling was only growing stronger as the car drove away.

“y/n?” called Sans, looking around his chair to look at her. “you okay kid?”

She turned back around only when she finally lost sight of her home, and called out, smiling. “Of course!”

He looked at her for awhile, before reaching his hand out to her, “wanna ride shotgun for awhile?”

“SANS! Y/N WANTED TO SIT AT THE BACK WITH ME!” cried Blueberry, his attention brought instantly back to her.

“how long has it been since you’ve ridden shotgun in a car, y/n?” Sans asked, grinning at Blueberry.

“It’s been awhile.” She admitted.

Blueberry looked conflicted, but didn’t say anything as Y/n leapt for Sans hand, bringing her to his shoulder that squared off with Papyrus’s.

Once settled, she turned to face a disheartened Blueberry, smiling. “Isn’t this better? Now I can talk to everyone without having to shout.”

“YEAH.” He replied, without any real energy. Then he seemed to think of something because he quickly brightened, “YEAH! IT IS PRETTY GREAT!”

“THIS WHOLE DAY IS GOING TO BE BETTER THAN GREAT! IT’S GOING TO BE THE GREATEST GREAT DAY WITH THE GREATEST SKELETONS AND GREATEST BITTY THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS EVER KNOWN EVER HAD!”

As the two went backwards and forwards proclaiming just how great and magnificent the day was going to be, Sans leaned in towards Y/n’s back, and asked in a low voice, “y/n, are you sure you’re doing okay? we can always turn around, if you want?”

She shook her head slowly, turning to stare at the bright eye-light behind her. “No, it’s fine. I think I’m okay now.”

In truth, the panicked feelings of dread wasn’t as strong as it had been before, and with every passing moment, she grew calmer. Now she felt herself settling and it allowed her to actually look forward to today with mild interest instead of dread. It was an oddly numbing feeling of detachment to herself and her surrounds, far more comforting than the all-consuming wrongness that she had being feeling as she watched her home disappear into the distance.

~*~

After everyone arrived at the beach car parking lot, carrying all the beach supplies with them as they moved as a group towards the sea, Y/n sat on Sans’s shoulder, and watched as they made their way towards the beach.

The trip had taken many hours, and was most defiantly the furthest she had ever been to her house since the court hearing (which had been held in the nearby town). The beach was oddly beautiful, and it had been forever since she had last seen it in person; the cool, salty air playing with her hair, the sun on her skin and the sound of gulls and people playing before her, brought back pleasant memories of the time she had with her family.

Only the signs that greeted her spoiled her mood.

A hollow human figure that was crossed out stood before the path that lead towards the side of the beach that was open. Meanwhile, the remaining path also had a hollow figure, but with a tick instead, leading towards the fenced off section of the beach, with an adjacent café and shops attached directly to the fenced-off section. A pane of glass wall separated the two sections.

 _‘Bitty Laws.’_ Y/n thought, eyeing both signs indifferently.

Luckily, the skeletons were already moving beyond it, paying the signs little attention as Papyrus and Blueberry rushed ahead in search of the perfect spot in the open section. Edge lagged behind them, yelling instructions at them while trying to appear like he had nothing to do with them. The three remaining brothers and Y/n slowly followed, talking about their car trips and plans for today.

“wonder what’s with the wall?” asked Red, pointing to the glass wall as the small group passed its starting point.

Before anyone could answer him, there was a cry of “Freedom!” as a bitty boy in yellow board shorts crawled out from a deep tunnel in the sand that snaked out from underneath the glass wall, before running quickly towards the sea.

“whoa, hold up.” Sans said, his eye flashing blue as he lifted the boy back towards them and left him hovering in the air.

The boy violently kicked mid-air, swinging his fits while glaring at them, “Let me go right now! This isn’t fair!”

“Apollo! You naughty boy!”

Everyone turned to see a cobra monster slither her way towards the group, coming from the direction of the nearest café on the other side of the wall where the other monsters looked on. Her fanged smile was apologetic before her slitted eyes flashed as she looked at the squirming bitty boy still hovering in Sans’s magic.

“And just where do you think you’re going?!” she cried, folding her scally arms, her hood flaring.

“I’m going to play in the real ocean, where all the other children are allowed to play!” the boy yelled, still thrashing in mid-air and trying desperately to get free once more.

The cobra monster sighed and relaxed her hood, before leaning across the glass wall with her arm outstretched, where Sans lowered the boy onto her waiting hand. Before the boy could make another dash for freedom, the cobra monster trapped him between her hands, whereupon he started bitting her scaled hands.

“Keep that up Apollo, and we’ll go home right now!”

Apollo stilled, before sagging in her hands, tears building in the corners of his eyes. “It’s not fair.” He mumbled.

The cobra’s expression fell, as she raised him to her face, nuzzling him with her snout. “I know it’s not,” she cooed softly, “but it’s for your own safety. What do you think I would do if I lost you to the ocean?”

“I-I don’t know.” Apollo cried softly, glaring at the sea.

“I would cry and cry, and I would be so very sad for a very, very long time. I would miss you every second, my little ray of sunlight.”

Apollo whipped his eyes, before looking into her softly glowing ones, "Re-really?"

She nodded, her own eyes tearing over.

“I’d- I’d miss you too mummy.”

Her eyes warmed, “do you promise to be a good boy then?”

“…yes.”

She chuckled, tickling him with her forked tongue before moving him to her shoulder, “That’s my sunshine.” She seemed to remember the skeleton group, as she quickly looked away from Apollo sulking on her shoulder to once again smile apologetically at them, “Oh, where are my manners, “ she offered her hand to Sans, who was closest while smiling at everyone else, “I’m Pungi, and this little ray of sunlight is Apollo, my son.” She smiled at them, her eyes quickly focusing on Y/n. “Oh, I have never seen an adult bitty before!” She quickly extended a pinky towards her, “Hello little one! What is your name?”

Y/n took the pinky gingerly, shaking it numbly, “Hello Pungi, I’m Y/n.”

Pungi beamed, flashing all her fangs, “It’s very nice to meet you! Although,” she looked quizzically around the group, “I am more than a little surprised to see you on that side of the wall. Shouldn’t you be on this side, with your family?”

“why?” asked Stretch, leaning over the wall while subtly filling in the tunnel Apollo had made.

Sans answered, “it’s a bitty activity centre, designed for the exclusive use of bitties and their families. they’re specifically built to give bitty families a safe and private space from the elements, animals and other people.” Sans shrugged, “guess we didn’t see the signs. oh well.”

“But- but that side has a total ban against bittes!”  Pungi look around the group, “You could risk losing your adoption rights as her guardian!”

Red scoffed behind Sans as he shrugged again, “i’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Pungi looked confused, before gesturing behind her, “If you’re worried about her safety, I can assure you that this place is very well designed with plenty of activities!”

Y/n looked behind her to see that the place really was well designed, with wide open spaces for different actives in the sand. Whoever had designed this had done their best to incorporate the experience of a day at the beach while maintaining maximum safety. A huge protective net protected the playing bitty children below it while their monster parents sat outside the cafés, watching them happily. There were a number of shallow pools and playground equipment that many bitty children were running around in. There were also many other sections that allowed the monster children to play with their adoptive bitty siblings; playgrounds that allowed children of various sizes to play side by side. As she watched, she saw a bat-like monster child watching from the sidelines as an insect-like monster child ran around in circles with their bitty sibling riding their head. When the two saw the bat monster watching them, the insect monster walked over and offered the grinning bitty to the bat monster, who eventually joined in the running game.

The whole area created a pleasant, warm and welcoming feelings; a harmonious, loving experience as these unique families just enjoying the beach in a safe environment.

Apollo scoffed and Pungi narrowed her eyes at him. “Not ten minutes ago you were praising this place, telling me how you never wanted to leave and how many new friends you were making.”

“But that was before you told me that I couldn’t go to the ocean when all the human children can!”

Taking a deep breath, Pungi continued, looking back at Sans, “Despite what my son thinks, this place has plenty family fun activities, space for a private family gathering if you prefer or the many other monster families to talk to, myself included, of course!” She beamed, gesturing at Apollo, “Best of all, it’s a bitty-leash free zone, so she doesn’t need to wear one while she’s in here.”

Y/n looked away, the hollow feeling in her chest aching slightly.

“a what?” asked Red, his voice low.

Pungi looked confused, “A bitty leash? The harness that goes around their chests with the long leashes attached at the back?” She looked at each skeleton's tight expression, “The thing they have to wear while out in public for their safety, in accordance to Bitty Law?”

“whelp,” Red said, moving to pluck Y/n off Sans shoulder before moving her to his, “I think we’ve had enough of talkin’ about useless shit.” He turned and walked towards Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge’s set-up in the distance, calling over his shoulder, “we’ll be over here, on the side of ‘who gives a fuck about retarded bitty laws’, if anyone needs us.”

Y/n could hear Sans and Stretch hurriedly saying their goodbyes before they quickly jogged to walk alongside Red, looking at her with concern.

Before they could say anything, however, Red spoke up, “actually guys, do yer mind if ya give us some space?” he tugged at the collar he always wore around his neck, “wanted to have a private ‘leash-to-leash’ here.”

They both nodded slowly, allowing Red to fall behind as they walked ahead, throwing a quick glance at Y/n before moving on.

“how ya doin’ babydoll?” Red asked, facing forwards.

She shrugged, “Same as always. Not my first time hearing that I’m a pet without a collar.”

He quickly looked at her, before looking away, “you’ve had to put up with that shit before?”

“Humans are so much worse.” She simply said, remembering every interaction she had since becoming a bitty. “Especially since I can remember how I used to be treated. Just part of my new life as a bitty with her memories intact.” When she noticed that Red had stopped, looking at her with such concern, she couldn’t help but stroke his cheek, “I’m okay Red, really.” She grinned “At _leash_ I’ve got you all by my side.”

Red gave a barking laugh before he could help himself, with Y/n quietly chuckling along with him. After he recovered, he beamed at her “well, ya know you can always _collar_ out if yer ever need me to get ya out shitty situations like that, right?”

“Yeah.” She replied shyly, absent-mindedly tracing a part of Red’s collarbone that his tank top failed to cover, following one of the deeper cracks she could see with her finger.

Red flinched and she quickly withdrew her hand.

“Sorry.” She mumbled, “I didn’t mean to over-step my boundaries there.”

Red looked flushed, looking away while coughing to clear his throat “don’t-don’t worry about it.” He turned to look at her, “i’m just a bit sensitive. not use to soft touches, thats’all.”

She nodded, pulling herself closer to his neck and some securely on the backpack strap he had slung over one arm, over his tank top. “I’ll keep my hands to myself then.”

“that’s not what i-“

“Hey Red, “ she asked, moving her spine away from one of the spikes on Red’s collar that had been jabbing her, “why do you wear a collar all the time then? Do monsters also have leash laws?”

When he didn’t immediately reply, she quickly amended, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Red still didn’t say anything, continuing his slowed pace towards the others. Just as she felt like she had crossed yet another line (yesterday still clear in her mind), she opened her mouth to apologise again, only for Red to speak over her.

“it-it makes me feel safe.”

“Safe?”

He turned to look at her, “that’s all i’m going to say kid.”

She nodded quickly and looked away.

By now, they were close enough to the set-up to see that Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge were just putting on the final touches and close enough to hear all the skeletons ideally talking to each other about specific activities they wanted to do today. They had all taken off their shirts and shoes (except Edge, who seemed to be keeping his tank top on), their towels and various belongs setup and laying in various forms of organised.

Only, Papyrus had taken more than his shirt and shoes off.

“What are you wearing?!” Y/n asked, her mouth agape as she stared at him.

Papyrus looked down at the tuxedo speedo he had been wearing under his board shorts in confusion. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH WHAT I AM WEARING?” He bent over to check them over, effectively mooning her and Red, “CAN YOU SEE THE TAG OR SOMETHING?”

Sans laughed as Y/n tried hiding her grin and Red looked away complaining under his breath “oh jeez paps, really didn’t need to fuckin’ see that.”, before grinning at his brother, “nah, you're fine paps, i’m sure they’re just jealous that they haven’t got the bod to pull that look off.”

“THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT!” Beamed Papyrus, flexing and grinning cheekily at Y/n while wiggling his eyebrows.

While Edge rolled his eyes as he violently stabbed the last beach umbrella stand into the sand, Blueberry scoffed and walked up to Papyrus in his bright board shorts. “OH PLEASE! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY HAS THE HOTTEST BOD!” He turned to grin at Y/n as well, flexing “WHAT DO YOU THINK Y/N? AM I A REAL MAN OR WHAT?”

“YOU’RE A REAL IDIOT, THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!” screeched Edge, walking to stand on the other side of Papyrus as Y/n quickly hide her face behind Red’s unamused skull. Edge posed, “YOU TWO WEAK CREAMPUFFS COULD NEVER HOPE TO COMPARE TO MY FLAWLESS VISAGE!” He began to flex nonchalant, looking casually at Y/n’s direction “ONE MIGHT SAY I HAVE THE VISAGE OF A GOD!” he glared at Red. “ISN’T THAT RIGHT…BROTHER?”

“er..”

When Edge took a step towards Red, he quickly backed up, waving his hands, “su-sure thing boss! no fuckin’ competition!”

“Um, excuses me?”

Pungi waited off to the side with Apollo still on her shoulder (although now wearing a bitty leash), looking at the three posing and flexing skeletons (who were frozen at the being of what was sure to be another argument), both completely unsure what they had just walked into.

Stretch lowered his glass and looked over at her from his lounging position next to Sans, in the sun, “hey again apollo, pungi. what can we do for you?”

Pungi shook herself, before looking quickly at her son (who was still staring at the posing skeletons like they were the strangest things he had ever seen) “Oh, um, I just wanted to apologise.” She looked over at Y/n and Red, “I feel that I insulted you earlier and I’m sorry.”

Y/n waved her off, truly feeling like she hadn’t been insulted, “Don’t worry about it.”

“And yet I am, so I wanted to come over and apologise properly” She sighed heavily, “I can’t say I understand why you’re risking your guardianship, but I can respect your decision to do so.” She dug into her shoulder-strap bag, pulling out a bottle, which she moved towards Red to hand him.

Y/n and Red looked down to see it was just a bottle of sunscreen.

While Red continued to stare at it, Y/n looked up, confused. “Thank you?”

Pungi smiled, “If there is one thing I wish someone told me, it would be how delicate human and bitty skin is.”

“You should have seen how red I got this one time!” beamed Apollo, standing on Pungi’s shoulder, posing, “I was almost as red as my dad! It was really painful afterwards though.”

Pungi gestured to the bottle, “I wasn’t sure if your skeleton family knew anything about skin care and I wanted to give you something as an excuse to come over and say sorry.”

By now, the rest of the family had gathered around Red, looking at the bottle as well, leaving Y/n to smile at Pungi. “Thank you for the sunscreen. In truth, I sort of forgot about it myself, so I’m glad I don’t have to add ‘red’ to my ‘rare, adult bitty’ description.”

Pungi chuckled with a hiss while Apollo rushed to her other shoulder, the one that was closer to Y/n, his long leash trailing after him. “You’re very tall and pretty for a bitty. I- I didn’t know we could grow up.”

Blueberry came rushing forward then, stars in his eyes, “I KNOW, RIGHT?! AND SHE’S ALSO SUPER SMART AND SUPER NICE!”

“Okay, that’s enough Apollo. Leave the poor lady alone.” Pungi looked away from her son to slightly bow her head at Y/n, “well, I hope you have a fun day with your family.”

Papyrus came rushing over, eagerly grabbing one of Pungi’s hands and shaking it vigorously, “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GIFT! IT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL AND SO NICE OF YOU!”

“It’s nothing really, but I am glad you like it!” beamed Pungi, matching Papyrus’s vigour. After Papyrus let go of her hand, she waved at them, turning to leave. “It was nice to meet you all!”

Apollo nodded enthusiastically, still staring at Y/n, “Yeah! It was fun to meet an adult bitty for a change!”

Pungi slithered away, back towards the glass wall, with Apollo waving goodbye the whole way. Papyrus and Blueberry were still waving, long after Sans and Stretch had stopped.

Edge looked over the sunscreen he had taken from Red, with a thoughtful expression, “THE BOTTLE SAYS THAT IT SHOULD BE APPLIED TO THE WHOLE SKIN AREA, EVERY HOUR.”

Y/n lept off Red’s shoulder and landed on top of the cooler, before turning to face Edge, her hand out, “Mind if you gave me some?”

Taking off her shirt and shorts, leaving her in her bikini, Y/n waited as Edge squeezed some sunscreen into her hands. She quickly applied it to her skin, sitting down to apply it evenly to her legs before rubbing it into her arms and chest. She struggled to reach her back, however, and looked around for someone to help her out. “Could one of you-“ she stopped, realising that all eye lights were focused on her. “Is everything okay?” she asked slowly, noticing the many blushing colours and quickly turining heads.

_‘Maybe it’s a lack of skin thing? Maybe they’re repulsed by it?’_

Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, she quickly pulled her top and shorts back on.

“Nevermind” she mumbled.

While the rest of the family struggled to look at anything in particular, Red dumped his backpack onto the sand, striding towards her with his hand out. After a brief moment of hesitation on her part, Red lifted her to his shoulder, whereupon he turned to face the others. “welp, i bags the first hour with y/n.”

“WHAT! NO FAIR!!” complained Blueberry, still blue cheeked as he puffed his cheeks out in Red’s direction.

“Bags?” Y/n asked, looking at Red. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“YEAH! Y/N WANTS TO COME WITH ME AND BUILD SANDCASTLES!” Blueberry proudly proclaimed.

“AWW,” sulked Papyrus, kicking around the sand, “I WANTED TO DO THAT WITH Y/N.”

“YOU FOOLS REALLY THINK SHE WOULD LEAVE HER HOUSE JUST TO PLAY IN THE SAND ALL DAY?!” Edge stood taller, “OBVIOUSLY SHE WANTS TO TEST HER SKILLS AGAINST THESE HAPLESS HUMANS! FOR DOMINANCE OVER THIS PETTY BEACH AND PROVE HER SUPERIORITY TO THESE WEAK WEAKLINGS!”

“i think she could do with a nice relaxing sunbath in the warm sand.” Stretch winked at her, over his tinted sunglasses, “maybe get some vitamin _sea_ later.”

Sans sighed heavily, looking over at her with a tight smile, “guess you could say it’s a _shore_ thing that we all want to spend the day with you kid.”

“Really?” she asked in disbelief, looking around.

They all nodded.

Rubbing the back of her head, she shrugged, “Well, I guess I do need to keep applying sunscreen every hour, so I guess I can hang out with everyone at least once today.“ She looked around the group, smiling, “besides, it’ll give me an opportunity to experience different things. It has been awhile since I was last at a beach.”

“exactly, and that’s why yer spendin’ the first hour with me.”

Before anyone could stop him, Red was walking off and away from the others, who were in various forms of disappointment and complaining.

Y/n leaned back on Red’s shoulder, “Okay Red, you’ve kidnapped me first, so it better be good. What type of activity does a guy like you enjoy at the beach?”

Red stopped, looking over at her with a sly grin, “we’re going to have the type of fun that baby blue and cinamon roll would never approve of.”

~*~

“Hey Red, you’ve got another looker.”

Red followed Y/n’s pointing finger to see a burly man flat out staring at him. Cocking his eyebrow at the guy and lowering his tinted sunglasses, he called out to him, “hey there pal, there are 265 bones in the human body.“ Red winked at the guy, trailing a hand down his body, “want one of mine to go with?”

The man’s face twisted into disgust, before he hurriedly moved away, taking his belongs with him.

Red and Y/n chuckled together, as he continued to walk further along the beach, towards the side that appeared to have been claimed by humans. While there were no rules about segregation, it didn’t stop the humans and monsters splitting themselves up. In fact, Y/n thought, looking back to just see where her friends had set up, they appeared to be set up right on the imaginary borderline between the two groups.

Which was perfect, as Red explained, because it meant he could do what he considered fun; playing with the ‘lookers’.

“I still can’t believe you go searching for reactions like that.” Y/n said, still sitting on his shoulder.

Red shrugged, “humans get so sensitive over harmless shit and not many of them can take a joke.” He lifted his head to look at her, “i told ya; you don’t react the way other humans do.”

“Oh? And what I am I suppose to say?”

Red cleared his voice, before speaking in a high, annoying tone, “eww gross! a walking corpse is hittin’ on me! get it away from me!”

Y/n snorted loudly, drawing the startled attention of a woman sunbathing close by. When Red noticed that she didn’t look away, staring agape at Y/n holding her sides, he turned to face her with a grin as he began to lift his tank top. “you know, i’m just dying to see how yer look when i’m naked.”

“Oh hell no!” shrieked the women, leaping up and running away without a backwards glance at her things.

Y/n fell off Red’s shoulder, unable to keep her balance as she struggled to breathe in between her fits of laughter. As she convulsed on the sand, Red dropped himself next to her, grinning from ear to ear.

She struggled to her hands and knees, the feeling of a stitch firmly established on her side, as Red leaned over her, beaming. “hey, little prankster? check this out.”

Curious, Y/n lifted her head to see Red jerking his thumb towards a lady pretending to read a book while staring at Red’s back. As Y/n watched, the umbrella covering her was encased in a red glow, slowly shifting off to the side and exposing her to the sun. The lady flinched at the sudden exposure, before lifted herself from her lounging position, looking from the umbrella to Red’s shaking shoulders before glaring at the umbrella again. With effort, she learned as far as she could, fiddling with the stand till the umbrella swung back into its previous position. With a satisfied smile, she settled back into her previous position and opened her book too, once again, stare at Red.

Grinning at Y/n’s snickers, Red’s eye flashed red behind his tinted sunglasses and the umbrella swung away once again.

This time, the lady stood up, angrily dumping her book on top of her towel, before marching over to the umbrella and forcefully moving it back into position and firmly tighten all the adjustments savagely. With a huff, she threw himself back down, glaring at Red for a while before picking up her book for the second time.

Y/n looked away from the lady to see Red grinning down at her, watching.

She folded her arms, grinning cheekily up at him with a challenging smile, “You’re not really going to do the same thing again, are you Red? Surely you can do better than that.”

Red’s smile sharpened and something passed through his eyes, before he spun around on the sand, laying on his side to face the lady.

“hey baby, it looks like yer havin’ trouble getting into that book of yours. how about ya forget about the books and be my story instead?” He trailed a hand along the length of his body, “i’ll be your climax.”

The lady gaged, flinging her book away as she ran away, shrieking in terror.

“what do you know, got the girl to move in only three moves.” He cocked an eyebrow at her as he rolled over, “what to try and top that prankster?”

She shook her head “I think I’m done with pranks for a while.”

She didn’t feel like she had to explain why.

Red shrugged and dropped himself back into the sand, his hands behind his head. “look, i know that things are a bit tense now, but don’t expect me to believe the bitty responsible for the pink still on my coccyx is going to stop just like that.”

Y/n snorted; the mental image of Red’s pink tailbone forced a laugh out of her before she knew it. Still grinning, she climbed up the side of his shirt, to sit smiling on his chest.

“Yea, well, for a guy who had no problem flirting with total strangers, you don’t react the right way when someone flirts with you.”

Red cocked his eyebrow at her, “you think so?”

She grinned, laying back on her back, her hands behind her head, “Do you sleep on your stomach Red?”

“no?” replied Red, obviously confused.

“Can I?”

Red chuckled, his rib cage jostling her around with the motion, a slight blush on his cheeks. After he settled, he poked her stomach, making her turn to face him, indigent. “there _shore_ are a lot of fish in the sea, but you’re the one i want to mount.”

“Pfft! That’s terrible!” she laughed, pushing away his finger.

“see, right there? that’s not how yer suppose to react when a jerk gives ya bad pick up lines.”

“Opps, my bad. How’s this?” Grinning, she cleared her voice before talking in a high, annoying tone, “Eww gross! A walking corpse is hitting on me! Somebody save me!”

Red laughed so hard that Y/n almost slide off his chest, her own bust of laughter doing little to help her balance.

After awhile, they fell into a comfortable silence, both enjoy the sea breeze that drifted over them, the sun bathing their bodies. Y/n especially enjoyed the gentle rhythm of Red’s breathing moving her up and down, lulling her to sleep.

Just as she was giving some serious thought to taking a nap, Red asked, “are you okay babydoll?”

She flipped on her stomach to see Red looking at her, his bright eye lights barely visible through his tinted glasses. Noticing her confused expression, he explained, “it’s no secret that you were more than nervous about this trip, yet ya seem relaxed?”

She didn’t understand why that should confuse him, but she flipped back over onto her back, shrugging. “I mean, I know I was dreading leaving the house, but I’ve felt oddly calm since I got here, so I think I'm okay?”

“you’re not at all feelin’ tense? strange? odd?”

She looked down at her clothes, seeing the bright bitty bikini through her raggy plain clothes.

After a while, she admitted, “Well, I-I have been feeling a little strange, almost like this is all some sort of dream I’m just viewing.” She shrugged again before rushing on, “I-I don’t know, maybe I’m a little self-conscious about the bikini.” She quickly sat up, bringing her knees to her chest, before quickly amending “I mean, I'm not used to having no backpack and convenient vents to disappear into.”

She felt Red poking her back, but she refused to turn around, instead, glaring at the sea. She didn’t like the fact that the thing that had been her constant since arriving, her feeling of estrangement and diminishment, was brought to her forethoughts when she had been trying to keep it back.

This was not she had been prepared for. Where was the panic, the paranoia and dread from this morning?

Red sighed behind her, “babydoll, you’re the cutest thing on this entire beach, so i don’t get why yer feeling all self-conscious.”

She smiled, but didn’t bother to turn around to face him for his tease. “Cutest doll on the beach. But really, who can compare to a bitty in small clothes?”

“that’s not-“

“Hey! Corpse Fucker!”

They looked over to see the book lady from before hiding behind a very muscular man, both of their expressions twisted in loathing and repugnance.

The man pointed a finger at Red, “Leave my girl alone and stop messing her with your unnatural powers!”

“Yeah! Don’t think I didn’t see you freaky magic touching my things!” shrieked the lady.

Red shrugged and settled back into his previous position. “whelp, i guess i better apologise then.” He lowered his glasses as he stared up at the lady, unimpressed, “you’re a lot smarter than i was givin’ ya credit for.”

The lady swelled in anger, “How dare you!”

The man reached for Red, but pointed red bones suddenly sprung up from the sand, their pointed tips aimed at the pair.

“buddy, you better think awfully hard about your next move.” Red rolled his head to the side and lifted his glasses, revealing his one, red flaming eye that enhanced his malicious grin. “because yer really don't want to see me pissed.”

The two stood froze, fear making them both shaking.

Y/n patted Red’s ribcage till he looked over at her, “Red, stop. This isn’t worth getting in trouble for.” She looked at them flatly, “They’re not worth it.”

Red searched her expression, till eventually both his eye lights returned to normal and the bones vanished.

The couple quickly fled back to their stuff, grabbing everything they could, as quickly as they could. Before they left, the lady turned and spat at them, “You sick, pedo-monster! How dare you dress your little fuckdoll in a bikini and come to a public beach together, like it’s fucking normal!!”

A bone suddenly raised up from the sand, tripping the lady and making her drop everything she had been carrying as she fell, sprawled in the sand.  She took one look at Red sitting up from the sand, his hand out, before picking herself up and bolting for the car park, leaving behind all of her belongings as she ran after her fleeing boyfriend.

Y/n kept holding on to Red’ tank top, his sudden rise startling her as she clung to his shirt. Looking around, she saw how quickly they were drawing the eye of everyone else at the beach, with many phones out and recording. Fearing that this could easily get worse, she quickly climbed up to his shoulder, gently patting the side of his head. He indicated that he felt her, but didn’t take his eyes off the car quickly peeling off in the distance.

“Come on Red, let’s head back.”

He didn’t respond.

She tapped him again, harder this time, “Please.”

He nodded, slowly standing, before walking back towards their set-up, some distance away. He ignored all the phones pointed at his back, and the humans were smart enough to quickly flee out of his path.

Y/n sat awkwardly on his shoulder, the tension of their encounter with the douche couple spoiling the pleasant mood they had before. She could feel waves of tension rolling off Red, his playful, prankster mood was nowhere to be found now.

And dammit if she didn’t miss it! She had a real riot, laughing with the shameless flirt as they trolled the beach.

“fuckin’ humans ruining everything.” muttered Red, glaring at a kid that ran away squealing the moment he saw him.

Deciding she wanted to try something, she responded “Not everything.”, as she looked around.

Red stopped to stare at her, humourlessly.

She grinned, pointing to an old woman blatantly staring at them. “Mind getting closer to the lady so that I can tell her that her boobs need to stop staring me in the eyes?”

~*~

**FanArt (Again?!?)**

**Jelly** \- [Plushies and your fav bitty!](https://official-jellybellyrulez-acc.tumblr.com/post/171510738533/little-doodles-of-ms-bitty-playing-around-with)

 **Burn4Al** l- [Edge and Y/n (awww)](https://bunn-4-all.tumblr.com/post/171634857929/cooking-with-the-edgelord-with-special-guest)


	12. ‘Fun' in the Sun, Part 2

~*~

The shameless pair continued to walk back to the others, but made sure to flirt with every looker that wouldn’t stop staring at them. They took turns flirting with the lookers, laughing like idiots at the numerous splutters, red faces and flat-out denials that saw more than one human running away.

When they saw their group of distinctive skeleton monsters sitting by the sea’s shoreline, a short distance away from their set-up, Red walked towards them, casting one final wink to another couple who were about to set up nearby. For some reason, they decided to move on.

As Red approached, they saw Papyrus and Blueberry were busy putting the final touches on their large and obviously competitive sandcastles. Stretch was off to the side of Blueberry, buried up to his chest in the sand, and Sans waved back at them as he sunbathed from back at the set-up as Red look at him, questioningly.

“where boss?” asked Red, stopping near Stretch with his hands in his boardshorts pockets, looking around.

Stretch shrugged, “think i saw him running up and down the beach, saying something about scoping out targets and proper exercise challenges.” He focused his attention on Y/n with a smile, “hiya y/n.”

“HI Y/N!” beamed Blueberry beside Stretch, waving a spade shovel around.

Papyrus waved too, “Y/N! COME JUDGE OUR CASTLES, WHEN YOU GET THE TIME, OF COURSE!”

But Y/n only had eyes for a pair of skeleton legs buried in the sand on the other side on Papyrus, kicking in the breeze.

“Who’s legs-?” she started, till she noticed Stretch’s sly grin and saw a large oval drawn into the sand around him. Looking at the legs again, she saw they also had an oval drawn around them.

Hoping off Red’s shoulder, she walked over to the legs in disbelief, touching them to see if they were real. Suddenly and violently, the legs jerked, starling Y/n to fall back into the sand.

While Red and Stretch chuckled and Papyrus and Blueberry gave them both disapproving glares, Y/n picked herself up, and walked back over to the legs, ignoring their chuckles. She rubbed her hand up and down the fibula bone, really noticing the strange texture that bone was.

Stretch blushed amber, spluttering, “qu-quit it y/n! that’s ticklish!”

“So these are your legs!” she turned to look at them all, her mind blown. “You can detach limbs?!”

Red and Stretch looked uncomfortable, even as Papyrus spoke up, “BUT OF COURSE! IT’S JUST ONE OF THE AMAZING ABILITIES THAT SKELETONS HAVE!” he posed, “AREN’T WE JUST THE COOLEST?”

“The absolute coolest!” agreed Y/n, walking around the legs. She looked over at Stretch, pointing to the oval, “Is this referring to what I think it is?”

Stretch shrugged, grinning “now you’re thinking with portals.”

Beaming, she watched as Stretch lifted himself out of the sand and flopped back onto it. It was so strange to see him without his legs (she was still trying to get to him without his hoodie), his body now ending at the base of his spin.

Reach towards Blueberry, he asked, “can you lend me a hand bro? i haven’t got a leg to _stand_ on right now.”

Blueberry tossed his spade aside and stood up, matching to his brother’s folding and unfolding legs in frustration. “YOU’VE ONLY JUST STOPPED TELLING HORRIBLE PUNS ABOUT SAND! WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS INSISTENTLY TELL TERRIBLE PUNS?!”

“for kicks?”

Blueberry’s eyes boggled as he dumped his brother's leg before him. “MWEH!”

Red grinned, “so yer sayin’ you can’t _stand_ puns blue?”

Blueberry marched away, his fists clenched to his side and his head held high, yelling over his shoulder, “YOU TWO ARE THE WORST EVER!”

“I AGREE!” nodded Papyrus, who sat back in the sand, his arms folded, “YOU TWO SHOULDN’T SPOIL THIS NICE DAY WITH BAD PUNS!”

“sorry, paps.” replied Stretch, attaching his top half to his bottom half.

Red shrugged, before looking at Y/n, “so, have you decided who ya want to go with next?”

“Oh, so I get to choose this time?”

Red returned her grin, turning to leave, “s'not my fault the others were too slow.”

“Is that what we’re calling kidnapping now?” she called after him, smiling as she watching him waving goodbye over his shoulder.

She looked over to Stretch, who was in the middle of pulling out sand from his pockets, with a mild look of discomfort on his face.

“You okay Stretch? It’s not painful to…separate yourself like that, is it?”

He shook his head, standing up to brush his hands off on his shorts as he looked towards Blueberry’s direction, “nah, i’m okay. it’s not what i would call a pleasant feeling, but it’s not painful. only now i’ve just got to deal with a bit of sand in between places i’ve never been touched before, so that kinda sucks.”

“STRETCH!” cried Papyrus, flustered, “THERE’S A LADY PRESENT!”

Stretch grinned, “i was talking about my joints paps.”

“OH,” blushed Papyrus, hastily looking away. “I, UM, KNEW THAT!” Quickly reaching for Y/n and obviously trying to change the subject, Papyrus asked, “Y/N! COME CHECK OUT MY AMAZING SANDCASTLE!”

Y/n looked away from Stretch…stretching, and walked over to Papyrus’s impressive castle.

Looking over at Blueberry's, she compared the two castle’s height, noticing just how tall and well designed they both were. In fact, she suspected that if they had both been built for her to specifically to climb through, which she was tempted to do. Only the difference between the two stopped her. While Blueberry had covered his with innumerable shells and other objects, incorporating them into the overall structure of the castle, Papyrus had dug a wide moat, filled with seawater.

Y/n placed her feet into the moat, enjoying the sensation of the cool water moving around her kicking feet. Jumping into the moat, she sighed as she felt the soft sand sliding between her toes, enjoying the feel of the current she created as she walked the length of the moat that stopped at her waist.

“YOU SEEM TO BE REALLY ENJOYING MY CASTLE Y/N!”

She looked up to see Papyrus beaming down at her, kneeling back as he watched her interact with his castle. She returned his beaming smile, “It’s been forever since I’ve felt sea water! I think the last time I did, I was body surfing with my sister.” she chuckled, kicking up the water gleefully, “I almost forgot how cool it feels on my skin.”

“REALLY? WELL, I WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SKIN BUT WE SHOULD PLAY IN THE OCEAN RIGHT NOW!” Papyrus said, standing up and brushing the sand off himself before reaching for her.

She stood back, waving her hands. “Papyrus, think about it! I can’t go into the ocean like this!”

“plus skeletons doesn’t exactly float.” Stretch added, leaning back in the sand.

Papyrus looked between the ocean and Y/n once again idly playing with the water, his face falling, “BUT SHE’S HAVING SO MUCH FUN.” he said, mainly to himself.

“Y/N!”

They turned to see Blueberry running back, his arms waving about as he held aloft a bottle of sunscreen and a sheet of paper.

“Y/N! WOULDYOUPLEASEBYMYPARTNERFORAVOLLEYBALLCOMPETITION?!”

“Blue! Slow down!”

He skidded to a halt, kicking up sand as he fell to his knees before her, “THERE’S NO TIME! PLEASE SAY YES!”

“Ye-yes?”

Before she knew exactly was happening, Blueberry had grabbed her and was running away, holding her in one of his hands.

“Blue! Where are you taking me?!”

He didn’t slow down. “NO TIME, WE HAVE TO HURRY!” With one hand and his eyes flashing, he held out the open bottle of sunscreen, his running motion jostling everything. “HANDS OUT Y/N!”

She held out her hands quickly as Blueberry dumped sunscreen directly onto her hands. While he ran, she tried to rub it into her skin, losing a large amount of it as it fell from her hands from all the jolting motion Blueberry caused as he ran as fast as he could…somewhere.

By the time he slowed down, Y/n could feel herself slipping in Blueberry’s grip as she had managed to not only cover herself in sunscreen, but his hand as well. Any questions she had for Blueberry were quickly answered, however, as she looked around.

“A volleyball competition?” she looked back up at Blueberry, to see him grinning at her, “You wanted to watch a volleyball competition with me?”

The whole event was already packed with spectators, with many partners stretching and gearing up to play. Everywhere Y/n looked, she saw humans and monsters talking with each other, and more than one mixed partners. It was rather refreshing to see, especially after her time with Red had somewhat been ruined by lookers. Now she could look forward to watching with Blueberry in peace, without being gawked at. Maybe she could convince him to buy some treats from the vendor over there?

But Blueberry laughed derisively, “WHAT FUN IS IT TO WATCH?”

He marched over to an official-looking man sitting at a portable table, slamming the paper he had been carrying in front of the guy. “HI, OFFICIAL LOOKING HUMAN! I AM BACK WITH MY PLUS ONE!”

“Your plus one?!” Y/n cried out in shock.

The official looked at her, quirking an eyebrow, “Your partner is your bitty?” He turned to look at another official beside him, “Is that even allowed?”

The other official shrugged.

Blueberry nodded, proudly, “Y/N CAN DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS, AND SHE’S AGREED TO BE MY VOLLEYBALL PARTNER! SO, WE'RE HERE TO PLAY AND WIN!”

“Hold up Blue!” she turned to look at him crossly, “While I appreciate your seemingly boundless faith in me, how am I suppose to play a volleyball game with you?!”

Blueberry rubbed the back of his neck, “I-I NEEDED A PARTNER TO PARTICIPATE AND-“

“So why not Papyrus, Stretch or even Edge? I’m sure that-“

“I WANTED YOU AS MY VOLLEYBALL PARTNER, NO ONE ELSE!” Blueberry shouted.

A few people around them stopped their conversation to look at them, concerned.

Blueberry open his hand, allowing Y/n to stand and look up at him, “YOU-YOU CAN SAY NO IF YOU WANT, BUT I ASKED YOU BECAUSE I WANTED IT TO BE YOU. ONLY YOU.”

“Bl-Blueberry, while that’s sweet of you, how do you expect me to play when the ball is as big as me?!”

He brightened, “I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD GIVE ME SUPPORT!”

“You want me to cheer you on?”

He looked away, “IT’S MORE THAN THAT.” He raised her to his eye level, “I ALWAYS WANT TO DO MY ABSOLUTE BEST WHEN YOU’RE AROUND. KNOWING THAT YOU BELIEVE IN ME, M-MAKES ME BELIEVE IN MYSELF TOO.”

She looked away from the sincerity of his eyes.

The official cleared his throat, “Sign-ups are about to close.”

Sighing, Y/n turned to the guy, nodding, “Okay fine, I guess I’m in.”

Blueberry beamed behind her, the happiest he had ever looked.

The official pointed to the signup sheet, somewhat hesitant, “We’ll need both of you to sign.”

Blueberry quickly rushed forward, signing his namely proudly on one of the empty spaces. Lowering her to the table and offering the pen, Blueberry stood back, practically giddy with glee, as he watched her determinedly try to sign her name like she used to.

As she finished, she looked sadly down at the mark, remembering how it used to look like she had at least meant to do it on purpose.

“Um, good luck you two?” the official said, unsure.

Blueberry puffed out his chest, “WE DON’T NEED LUCK!”

“Yeah, we’ll need a miracle.” muttered Y/n, dropping the pen.

Blueberry offered his hand, which she climbed onto, sitting on his hand as he made his way over to the sideline where the other participates were waiting.

Before long, the competition was officially started and another official came walking over, calling partner names and directing them to an area set up for volleyball matches. As the last partners to sign up, they were directed to the area on the furthermost side, last.

“Okay Blueberry, where should I stand?” she asked, looking around the court.

Blueberry raised her to his sparkling eyes, “WHY, YOU’RE GOING TO STAY WITH ME, OBVIOUSLY!”

She looked at his bare bones, before looking at him in disbelief. “And where am I supposed to sit Blue? I’ll fall through you if I try to sit on your shoulder, and you can’t hold me and play!”

He pointed to his back, next to his shoulder blade, “YOU CAN HOLD ON HERE!”

“…are you sure?” she asked in disbelief, quite sure this wasn’t going to work.

He nodded, confidently.

Shrugging, she jumped onto his bare bones, gingerly moving so that she stood on his rib cage while holding his collarbone. Blueberry giggled at her touch, his bones moving with his repressed laughs, as a blue blush appeared on his cheeks.

Once settled, she sighed, placing her forehead on his collarbone. “This isn’t going to work.” she mumbled.

“DON’T BE LIKE THAT Y/N!” He looked over at her, grinning, “OUR OPPONENTS ARE GOING TO DOUBT US, AND THAT’S GOING TO BE THEIR WEAKNESS! BUT OUR STRENGTH IS GOING TO LIE WITH US BELIEVING IN EACH OTHER!”

She didn’t lift her head.

“Y/N?”

Sighing, she looked up. “Oh what the hell.” She raised a fist into the sky, cheering, “We’ve got this Blue!”

He raised his fists up, his eyes morphing into stars, “YEAH!”

He ran into the center of the court, facing their opponents; a human man and women. The pair watched him getting ready to play, looking around for the second person.

“Where’s your partner, little guy?” asked the girl, gently.

Y/n called out, “Right here! This super amazing team is here to win this match!” She gave them a thumbs down, “Prepare to lose to Team Magnificent!”

Blueberry raised his fists up, pumped.

The girl took a step back, “Is-is that a bitty?” she turned to the man, “Is that even allowed?”

“Not only should it not be allowed, but because they made a mistake it letting this awesome team happen today, YOU’RE the ones at a disadvantage!” Y/n smirked at them “Our guarantee victory here will only just be the first of many here today.”

“YEAH! AND ALTHOUGH I’M SURE YOU’RE QUITE NICE HUMANS, IT WON’T BE ENOUGH TO STOP YOUR DEFEAT!”

Blueberry’s smack talk almost made her laugh. Instead, she held out her hand.

“Well said partner!”

Blueberry hi-fived her, grinning.

“Are the teams ready?” asked their referee, their whistle ready to go.

“READY!” “Ready!”

The man shrugged, “I guess?”

Nodding, the referee chucked the ball to the man, who bounced it uncertainty in his hands, looking over at them.

“You’ve got this Blue!” Y/n cheered.

Shrugging, the man served.

In a flash, Blueberry ran over and hit the ball back with lighting reflex and power. The ball flew over the net and smashed right into the sand at the girl’s feet, starling a scream out of her.

The referee called out, “1 to nothing, other team’s serve.” before tossing the ball to Blueberry.

“Hey! I was told monsters weren't allowed to use magic!” The man called angrily, glaring at the ref.

Blueberry had picked up the ball, spinning it on the tip of one of his phalanges, “I’M NOT USING MY MAGIC, HUMAN.” He turned and grinned, “I DON’T NEED MY MAGIC, NOT WHEN I’VE GOT Y/N RIGHT WITH ME!”

He served the ball, striking the ground just out of the man’s wild dive for it.

“Excellent shot Blue!” cheered Y/n, clapping wildly.

The girl hurriedly ran over to the man’s side, picking him up. Together, they nodded at each other before standing and facing Y/n and Blueberry.

“2 to no-“

“We know!” snapped the girl.

“HEY NOW!” cried Blueberry, folding his arms disapprovingly, “THERE’S NO NEED TO GET ANGRY WITH THE REFEREE.”

“Yeah, you should be aspiring to be as great of a team as ours!” Y/n flung an arm around Blueberry’s neck, hugging him, “It’s the only chance you’ll have to bet us.”

“Come on babe.” The man said, picking up the ball and readying his serve. He nodded towards them, “I think it’s about time we started taking these guys seriously.”

~*~

So it went for every match. As they won each match and faced their next opponents, they would stare in disbelief and not at all prepared for such a seemingly weak, solitary monster to be their next opponent, expecting some sort of ace in the hole partner to appear any second. When they say Y/n grinning at his back, that it was she who was this ace, no one had taken them seriously. And that’s when Blueberry would quickly score easy points; his enthusiasm and energy spurred on by Y/n’s constant cheers and ringing endorsements.

However, it was a matter of time when they would inevitably lose. Blueberry was good, great even, but even he couldn’t outmatch two people.

But damn if he didn’t try though!

“I believe in you Blue! You’ve got this!”

With a wild cry, Blueberry flung himself into the sand, reaching for the ball that would break the tie…and missing it by a hair.

“Yeah! We’ve won!”

Y/n looked up from Blueberry, who was still face down in the sand, to see their human opponents cheering and spinning around in circles.

Quietly, she unhooked herself from Blueberry’s back and dropped into the sand, walking over to and patting the side of his skull.

“You did an amazing job Blue.” She smiled softly.

He turned to face her, his face heavy with exhaustion, “REALLY?”

“A hundred and ten percent effort.” She hugged the exhausted skeleton, “You should really be proud of yourself, Blue. I know that I am.”

His eye light searched her face, before softly closing, his head rolling over more into her arms.

“Hey.”

She looked up to see their opponents standing close by, smiling gently. “Great match you two!”, the grinning man said, offering a hand.

Hopping quickly back onto Blueberry’s shoulder, Y/n watched as he wearily took the man’s offered hand, letting himself be pulled up.

The girl partner lowered herself till she was on Y/n’s eye level. She held up her hand, a questioning look in her eye, “Good game?”

Y/n nodded, hi-fiving her palm. “Good game.” she agreed.

The man threw his arm around the girl’s shoulder, beaming at them. “Man, you two make an awesome team! Am I sorry I ever doubted!”

“Not to ruining the moment, but I need to start the next round!” called the referee, off to the side.

The man looked to the referee, back to them. He quickly stuck out his hand to Blueberry. “Good game?”

Blueberry beamed, grabbing the man’s hand and shaking it vigorously. “GOOD GAME!”

The man and girl smiled back, before waving a final goodbye as they were guided to their next match.

Y/n sighed, looking away warily. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more Blue.”

He gasped. “NO!”

Blueberry quickly plucked her off his back and raised her to his frowning eye level, “NEVER BELIEVE THAT Y/N! NEVER! DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT MY ALL IF I DIDN’T HAVE YOU BY MY SIDE, CHEERING ME ON?!” He pressed her to his cheek, “NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE, NO MATTER HOW TALENTED, EVERYONE NEEDS SOMEONE ELSE TO BELIEVE IN THEM.” He looked away, “EVERYONE HAS DOUBTS.”

Eventually, she hugged him back. “Really?” she whispered.

He nodded firmly, before smiling widely, "THANK YOU SO MUCH Y/N! I REALLY COULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOU."

She looked shyly away, "Y-you're welcome Blue."

“Y/N, BLUEBERRY! THAT WAS AMAZING!”

They turned to see Papyrus cheering off to the side, holding aloft a body board. Already, he had drawn the eyes of all the human males, with a great number of females already looking away, blushing furiously.

The addition of numerous water wings covering his arms, several inner tubes around his wait and large fins on his feet hadn’t made him any less inconspicuous.

“PAPYRUS! DID YOU SEE US?!” asked Blueberry happily, running over to him.

“I DID!” Papyrus gave them a big thumbs up. “YOU TWO DID AN AMAZING JOB!”

“I KNOW, RIGHT?! ISN’T Y/N THE COOLEST?!”

“THE ABSOLUTE COOLEST!”

Feeling a pang in her chest and wishing to distract herself away from it, Y/n pointed to the body board and asked, “What’s with the board, Paps?”

“OH!” He lifted the board up eagerly, “I FOUND AN ACTIVITY WE CAN DO TOGETHER IN THE OCEAN! I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE THAT, ESPECIALLY SEEING AS HOW I’LL BE THERE!”

Now all she could feel was the shadow of fear that she had felt earlier this morning.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

He gestured to his entire body, “I’VE MADE SURE TO PREPARE MYSELF BEFOREHAND! I’VE TESTED IT OUT ALREADY AND I AM ONE HUNDRED PERCENT BUOYANT!”

“That’s not the only issue-“

He lowered the board before her, trying to entice her to jump on. “WILL YOU COME WITH ME FOR A DIP IN THE SEA Y/N?”

Y/n looked from the board to the ocean, to Papyrus’s hopeful expression.

She nodded slowly, jumping from Blueberry’s shoulder and onto the body board. Standing up, she turned to look at Blueberry just as he was handing over the sunscreen to Papyrus, “Want to come for a swim?”

Blueberry shook his head, “ACTUALLY, I’M FEELING A BIT TIRED, SO I THINK I’M GOING TO GO FOR A QUICK RUN.”

“That’s what you do for energy?!”

He waved goodbye, before turning and jogging away, softly rubbing his cheek as he went.

Papyrus happily walked over to the sea, balancing the board on his pelvic bone to give Y/n a flat surface. However, due to his fins, the journey was far from smooth as he accommodated the large footwear by swinging his legs out slightly, creating a bouncing sensation that saw Y/n lifting and falling back onto the board with every step.

He held up the bottle as he walked, looking at her questioningly. “Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY? HAVE YOU HAD SOME SUNSCREEN YET?”

“I’m due for another coat.” She admitted, holding out her hands.

Papyrus squeezed some into her hands, before gaping at her, then to the bottle, “HUMANS CAN MAKE COATS OUT OF THIS STUFF?!” he exclaimed, reading the bottle’s instructions.

“I thought you were a human expert.” she teased, making sure she was properly covered. After the volleyball matches, she was feeling a bit sunburnt.

“I AM! BUT YOU HUMANS KEEP CHANGING AND MAKING UP NEW RULES!” he huffed.

“Want me to share a secret?” she asked, grinning when she saw she had his attention, “We like to make things up all the time.”

“I KNEW IT!”

Chuckling, Y/n finished her application of sunscreen as Papyrus approached the sea. Tossing the sunblock to the side, he walked into the ocean, doing his absolute best to keep the waves from battering the board. Y/n, herself sat on the lip of the board, on the side away from the beach, which made logical sense as Papyrus soon lay flat on the board behind her, but it made looking out into the impossible deep scary.

Again, she was struck with just how little impact her mild fear was having. Shouldn’t she be freaking out?!

“Y-you sure we’ll be fine?” she asked, looking behind her to see Papyrus’s face inches behind, beaming.

“OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU!”

She nodded slowly, turning away. “I’m just surprised you know what you’re doing Paps. Didn’t think there were too many places to catch a wave Underground, or have you had practice since you got to the surface?”

“OH, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME!” he said brightly, angling his board with the next coming wave as soon as it formed, “BUT I SAW A FEW HUMANS DOING THIS AND IT DIDN’T LOOK THAT HARD!”

She spun around, “You what-?!”

“AND HERE WE GO!” he cheered, throwing his hands up.

Before she could curse, the wave hit them and carried them back to the shoreline. Y/n, unprepared for the wave, tumbled back into Papyrus’s face, where she clung to his skull staring into his wide eye lights. Clearly surprised, Papyrus tumbled off the board himself, with wave after wave soon rolling over them, instantly soaking them. She closed her eyes and clung tighter, holding her breath.

She could feel Papyrus struggling, unused to the floating devices that left him floundering in the shallows. However, she eventually could feel the subtle shift from Papyrus as he managed to lift his body up, standing safely in the shallows.

“Y-Y/N. A-ARE YOU GOING TO LET GO OF MY FACE?” Papyrus asked, his blush bleeding through her eyelids.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see one blushing skeletons face and nothing else. Very much aware of how fast her heart was beating, she dropped on Papyrus’s waiting hand, quickly falling to her knees when her legs wouldn’t support her.

“Y/N?” Papyrus asked softly, obviously concerned and deeply regretful.

She held up a hand, head still down. “Mind if you give me a second?”

She felt him nod (or shake his head, she wasn’t sure, so she assumed his answer), before quickly returning her attention to her body.

Yes, her arms and legs were shaking, and yes, her heart was racing, but that was all she was feeling. No fear, no regret, no dread.

She felt...okay. Well enough to try again anyway.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up, sitting back in his hand.

“May-maybe we can try that again.”

Papyrus didn’t look convinced. “MAYBE THIS WASN’T SUCH A GOOD IDEA.” He admitted, his expression falling.

She gently patted his hand, drawing his attention back to her, “It’s fine Paps. In fact, it was rather nice of you to think of this activity in first place.” She cocked her head to the side, “Did you decide to do this because of what I said before?”

He nodded sadly, “BUT YOU WERE RIGHT; IT’S DANGEROUS FOR YOU.” he looked up at her, his eyes wobbling, “WHAT IF YOU G-GOT HURT BECAUSE OF ME?”

“Hey now! We’re both okay, right? Both still here?”

He nodded.

She smiled, “We just need to practice, that’s all.” She pointed to the ocean, “Come on Paps, let me teach you to be a pro at body surfing.”

Papyrus searched her expression for a long moment before dropping her back onto the board, grabbing the back of it and aiming the front back out to the ocean. His hands were very firm, taking especially good care to minimise the waves, even if they were clenched harder than necessary.

Sitting back, she sighed, “Paps, you have to trust me in order for this to work.”

“I DO TRUST YOU!”

“Then relax.” She flipped onto her stomach, her hands hooking the lip of the board, “And try to follow what I do.”

~*~

She helped Papyrus perfect his hold on the board, demonstrating the best place to place his hands and what to look for with the waves. Papyrus had been hesitant to fully commit; his actions speaking volumes about the fear he was still feeling, but with Y/n's encouragement, his confidence grew and his enthusiasm returned.

Now they swam back out into the open, both a little apprehensive.

“Just remember what to look for.” Y/n called out, laying on her stomach on the front of the board.

Before long, Papyrus was angling the board, this time as the wave started to roll.

Tightening her grip, she called out, “Hold on!”

The wave hit them; lifting their board and carrying them back to the shore. The ride was thrilling and rough, but this time in Papyrus’s total control.

It ended too soon as Y/n felt the board being lifted into the air as Papyrus stood up behind her.

“IT WORKED THIS TIME! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!”

She sprung up and ran to Papyrus, celebrating, “Well done Paps!”

He beamed, glowing with so much pride and confidence restored.

Basking in the happy waves she could just feel coming from him, she called up, “Feeling like doing that again?”

~*~

Short answer: Yes.

There was no long answer, not when talking about it took vital time away from surfing!

The pair made many trips back to the sea; Papyrus’s boundless energy ensured he never tired. Every time they rode back to the shallows, every time they stood up cheering and crying out for another wave felt as rewarding and as enthralling as the first.

But like most good things, it ended too soon.

“paps, y/n! time to come in for lunch!”

Papyrus looked back to see his brother waving at them from the shoreline. He called out, “DO WE HAVE TO?!”

“only if you and y/n want lunch!”

“Aww!” complained the pair.

Sans could clearly be seen chuckling, but he stood back and waited on the shore, letting the water run of his bare feet.

Y/n, once again laying flat, pointed to the next wave, “Paps, heads up!”

“UP WHERE?” he asked, looking around.

Rolling her eyes, she tried again, “I meant there’s another wave coming!”

“OH!”

Papyrus began to, once again, angle the board back to the shore, letting the wave carry them back.

As Y/n felt the water rushing past and around her, she looked to where they were heading; back to Sans and the beach. In fact, it looked like Sans was on the phone, which confused her because surely he hadn’t been on the phone before? Where was he hiding it and how had he been keeping it dry?

Distracted, she felt her hands slip and let go, the momentum carrying her backwards. She hit something bony, spun and was soon encompassed in a cage of objects and light, a high pitch, fuzzy sensation encompassing all her senses; a place where physics didn’t work the way she was used to. Desperate, and fearful where she was, she made a desperate grab and clung to one of the objects, still engulfed by the strangest of sensations.

There was a lot of yelling and her grip on the hard object was tested as she was jostled violently up and down, before something eventually grabbed her from below, trying to pull her further down. She fought it, but her strength was no match, and she was quickly dragged down, sideways and out.

The moment she was out, the sensation disappeared and Y/n’s senses returned to normal, overwhelming her with information. She lay on what felt like a bony hand, sitting outside of what appeared to be the same beach. Sans hovered over her and it was his hand she sat on, with Papyrus on his hands and knees gasping for breath on the beach beside them, the body board off to the side.

“y/n! are you okay?!”

She looked away from Papyrus to look at Sans, confused. “I-I don’t understand. What happened!?”

Papyrus looked up, his eye lights flaming with magic, “YOU-YOU WERE INSIDE ME!”

“Oh.” She looked up at Sans, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean too!”

Sans chuckled, even if his smile was a little strained, “it’s okay kid, we both know it was an accident.” He looked over to his brother, who was slowly climbing back to his feet, “right bro?”

“RIGHT.” Papyrus said, not looking at her.

“Did-did you accidentally eat me?” she asked, feeling her skin for telltale signs of slime or bile.

Both brothers gasped, shocked and horrified.

“I WOULD NEVER-!“

“you just slipped-.“

“Guys!” That stopped them. Shrugging, she said, “It’s not a big deal if you did, I was just hoping one of you could tell me what happened.” She looked at Papyrus, her face strange, “All I know was I was suddenly in a very strange place, with no idea how I got there.”

Papyrus placed both of his hands to his chest, his many armbands keeping him from properly folding his arms. “YOU- YOU SLIPPED AND YOU PASSED THROUGH THE TOP OF MY RIB CAGE.” He shuddered.

She looked away, “Sorry.”

There was an awkward pause.

“how-how about we head back and get some lunch?” asked Sans, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’LL, ER, I’LL BE A WHILE.” Papyrus said slowly, turning to the sea, “YOU TWO GO AHEAD WITHOUT ME.”

“you sure?”

Papyrus nodded, still looking out to the sea.

Sighing, Sans walked back to the others, with Y/n sitting on his palm.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, feeling like she had inadvertently violated Papyrus in some way.

Sans waved her off, “don’t worry about it kid, papyrus will be just fine…eventually.” He looked over at her, his gaze searching, “are you okay?”

Guessing he was asking about the immediate situation and not her ongoing issues of displacement, she answered, “I feel okay,“ she met his searching gaze, “but I’m more worried about Papyrus. What’s wrong? What did I do?”

“nothing intentional,” Sans replied hurriedly, “but you sort of directly interacted with his magic.”

“Is that a big thing? I mean, it’s not the first time I’ve had magic touch me?” she asked, thinking about all the times she had been lifted by them.

Sans shook his head, “there’s a difference between magic with form and our raw magic. it’s a lot more…personally when it’s raw.” He stopped and lifted her to his eye level, his expression serious, “y/n, could you do me and especially paps a favour and not mention this to the others?” He sighed, looking towards the rest of the skeletons, sitting under their set-up and talking with each other, playfully, “it’ll only cause more drama.”

Y/n nodded and Sans smiled thankfully at her, before resuming walking towards the others.

Blueberry was sitting next Stretch, who was laying back wearing shades with a heap of chips resting on a paper plate on bare his chest, a honey bear bottle in one hand. Blueberry was talking adamantly with a smirking Edge, who was sitting on his towel with his arms folded, the main source of chips resting on the cooler in front of him and Blueberry. Red was handing out cool drinks to the others, holding onto four as he sat next to his brother, before heaping a pile of chips onto an empty plate and slathering the whole lot in mustard. When he saw this, Edge clenched his teeth, but didn’t say anything.

“Y/N! HOW ARE YOU NOW?!” cried out Blueberry, waving eagerly over at her the moment Sans sat down next to Red.

“I’m good Blue, thanks for asking” Y/n smiled, hopping off Sans’s shoulder to land on a clear spot on top of the cooler, next to the chips.

Blueberry smiled brightly, but it wasn’t as bright as she knew he could smile.

“where’s paps?” asked Red, passing Sans a drink while cracking a can of Y/n's favourite drink and putting in a straw before placing it near her with a wink.

Sans shrugged as he passed Y/n a small towel, before opening up his drink, grabbing a plate and dumping a handful of chips onto it, “just enjoying the view.” He sat down and nudged Y/n with a chip, “you should have seen these two riding the waves though.”

“AWW! I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN IT!” Blueberry replied, looking forlorn.

Smiling, she looked around at everyone else as she picked out a prime chip and sat down, wrapped in her towel, “So, what have you all been up today?”

Stretch raised his glass to look over at her, “just taking in the sights.” He grinned, winking at her.

“PLEASE!” Blueberry cried out in exasperation, “WHEN I RAN PAST YOU ON MY JOG, YOU WERE JUST WALKING ALONG THE BEACH! I WOULD HARDLY CALL THAT AN ACTIVITY!”

Stretch shrugged, “i would prefer calling it avoiding _pier_ pressure and _sea_ -zing the day.”

Blueberry’s eyes boggled, “MWEH!”

Sans and Red chuckled, even as Edge glared at his brother for doing so. Before anyone could say anything, however, they heard a mobile phone go off.

Placing his chips next to him, Sans leaned back to reach his phone in his board shorts, pulling it out and looking at the screen.

With a groan of frustration, he stood up. “sorry everyone, i need to take this.”

Then he vanished.

“Wonder who that is?” Y/n thought aloud, taking another bite of her chip.

Red shrugged, before grinning down at her, “i may or may not have been sunbathing where a lot of humans could see me.”

“Still giving the lookers a hard time?”

Red’s grin turned into a smirk as he held out a hand towards her, “bones before bitches.”

She high fived him, “You know me so well.”

Edge scoffed, “WHAT A COLOSSAL WASTE OF YOUR TIME!”

Y/n turned away from Red to smile at Edge, “And how did you spend your time Edge?”

Before he could respond, Papyrus approached, still in nothing but his tuxedo speedo, only now carrying an armful of deflated armbands and innertubes, his fins carried in one hand.

“HI PAPYRUS! HOW WAS THE OCEAN?! WAS IT WAS FUN AS IT LOOKED?” Blueberry asked eagerly.

Papyrus looked away from the bag he had just finished stuffing all of his things into and came over to sit behind Y/n, beaming at Blueberry. “IT WAS SO MUCH FUN AND REALLY INTIMIDATING AT THE SAME TIME! THE OCEAN WAS SO POWERFUL AND COOL ON MY BONES! NOT TO MENTION THAT YOU HAVE TO REALLY PUSH YOURSELF JUST TO GET OUT THERE!” he posed, “OBVIOUSLY, I WAS MORE THAN UP TO THE CHALLENGE! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN Y/N THOUGH!” He smiled down at her blushing face, “SHE WAS SO BRAVE! AND THANKS TO HER, I FOUND A NEW ACTIVITY I REALLY ENJOYED DOING!”

Blueberry raised his fists up, his eyes alive, “THAT SOUNDS AWESOME! I’M GOING TO GO IN THE OCEAN NEXT!” He looked quickly at Y/n, “WANNA GO FOR A SWIM WITH ME Y/N?”

She waved him off, finishing off her mouthful. “Not for a while Blueberry, sorry.”

She wasn’t quite so eager to risk another experience of whatever had happened with Papyrus so soon.

As Blueberry’s shoulder shagged, Papyrus grinned, puffing out his chest, “I’LL COME WITH YOU BLUE! I’LL EVEN HELP YOU REACH THE STATUS OF SECOND-BEST BODY BORD SURFER!” he smiled happily at Y/n, “I’LL TEACH YOU LIKE Y/N TAUGHT ME!”

She returned his smile, until she thought of a problem, “That’s not going to work, not unless Blueberry brought his own floating things and fins.”

“I DON’T NEED THEM!” Blueberry said, already bouncing with pure enthusiasm as he looked towards the ocean.

Papyrus nodded quickly, taking the offered bottle of water from Red as he took the last of the chips and placed them onto his plate, “I WANT TO SEE IF THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SURFING WITH AND WITHOUT THEM, SO HE CAN HAVE MINE IF HE REALLY NEEDS THEM!”

“Don’t skeletons' fear drowning?” Y/n asked, looking around.

“not really.” said Sans’s voice behind her, startling her. “need to have lungs to breath air kid.”

She spun around to see him warily drop himself into the sand between Papyrus and Red, picking up his plate before catching a bottle of ketchup Stretch tossed him from his reclining position.

“everythin’ okay?" asked Red, leaning back and looking closely at Sans.

Sans shrugged, “it’s as stable as it was ever going to be, so i guess that’s something.” He sighed wearily, “but i think i convinced him to stop calling, so there’s that.”

“Someone giving you trouble Sans?” Y/n asked in concern, finishing the last of her chip and starting another one.

Sans closed his eyes with a soft chuckle, “that’s not even the half of it kid.” He opened his eyes, looking at her with a tired smile, “but nah, i’m okay. it’s just someone we know being a bigger pain than usual.” He looked around at everyone eles, “i think he’s getting bored.”

“hazar.” called out Stretch, sarcastically.

The rest of the skeletons looked grim.

Hoping to distract them from whoever this ‘he’ was, Y/n asked while watching Papyrus’s chest slowly expand and shrink, “But I thought you guys breath? Or is that just you going through the motion?”

“motions, fun size.” Stretch supplied lazily.

“ALTHOUGH SCENT DOES HELP WITH SCOUTING OUT AN AREA.” Edge said, lost in his thoughts.

“NOT TO MENTION THAT IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO SMELLING THINGS IN THE WORLD!” Blueberry added, taking a deep breath of the sea air with his eyes closed before opening them to show that his eye-lights had changed into literal stars again.

“AND WE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO PROPERLY TASTE ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS THE SURFACE CAN OFFER IF WE COULDN’T SMELL, EVEN THIS GREASE, SALTY FOOD!” Papyrus said, taking several chips and chewing them with apprehension, before shrugging and having the next lot with a lot less distaste. “THESE ARE STILL BETTER THAN GRILLBY’S THOUGH.”

“you okay kid?” Sans asked, looking at her with a knowing smile.

Y/n shook herself and quickly turned her back on Papyrus, embarrassed that she been caught red-handed staring at Papyrus eating. She couldn’t help it! The chips simply vanished the moment they disappeared behind his teeth and she knew she hadn’t seen anything in his chest or gut area. All this talk about how these physics-defying monsters worked was really distracting her! Add to the fact that most of them weren’t wearing shirts and she sitting in the middle of bare rib-cages cage, and she felt like she was justified for staring…and didn’t that just make her a hypocrite?

Hoping to avoid answer Sans’s trap question, she instead asked “Edge! You were telling me what you’ve been up to so far?”

He looked startled to suddenly be the center of her attention, but he quickly got over that as his expression changed into smugness. “WELL, IF YOU MUST KNOW Y/N, I’VE BEEN VERY PRODUCTIVE TODAY, CHALLENGING ALL THESE WEAK HUMANS AND MONSTER TO RACES THEY WERE BOUND TO LOSE!” He posed, “NONE COULD HOPE TO MATCH MY SUPERIORITY, BUT THAT’S TO BE EXPECTED, OF COURSE!”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” cried out Blueberry, pointing at Edge, “I BEAT YOU HERE FOR LUNCH WHEN SANS CALLED OUT TO US!”

“WHY YOU LITTLE, LYING-“

“Hey!”

Both skeletons stop half-way through their raising motion to see Y/n looking at them, crossed. She waited for them both to settle back down, before sighing, looking over at Edge, “Are you telling me that you’ve just been running up and down the beach the whole day?”

“OF COURSE!” he looked away, angry, “WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO? PLAY IN THE SAND WITH THE BABIES?  PARTICIPATE IN A LACKLUSTER SPORTS COMPETITIONS WITH WEAK HUMANS AND WEAKER MONSTERS? SUNBATH AND WASTE MY TIME SLEEPING?!” He huffed, “THIS WHOLE DAY HAS BEEN A HUGE WASTE OF MY TIME!”

“Have you thought about rock climbing?”

He looked at her, to see her point to the sea cliff wall that a few other humans could be seen climbing.

He looked like he was considering it…or at least he wasn’t flat out shooting down her idea.

Figuring he could probably do with a push, she teased, “Of course, it’s very dangerous and I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself-“

He slammed the cooler, toppling her drink that Papyrus managed to save at the last second with his lighting relaxes and excellent hand-eye coordination. “CAREFUL EDGE! DON’T WASTE-“

But Edge ignored him, instead leaning forward and point at Y/n. “YOU, ARE GOING TO CLIMB THAT CLIFF WITH ME! YOU’RE GOING TO WATCH ME EFFORTLESSLY SCALE IT AND YOU WILL ADMIT TO MY SUPREME SKILL IN ALL THINGS I CHOOSE TO DO!”

She looked at her nails, derisively, “I don’t know Edge. I don’t know if you can match up to my expectations.” She grinned over at his enraged face, “I am sort of an expert on climbing.”

He leaned in closer, grinning. “JUST WATCH ME.” he hissed.

~*~

After lunch and a new layer of sunscreen, Y/n clung to the back of Edge’s tank top, both of them staring up at the cliff wall. What she noted as she first clung to Edge’s shirt was that if Red had scars, then Edge had scars upon scars; cracks that criss-crossed his entire body, and (like Red) that only really become noticeable when she was up close.

He had refused to talk about them and had flinched more violently then Red when she accidentally brushed an actual chip in his collarbone. He made her swear to keep her hands to herself, and Y/n had quickly and apologetically, agree.

Now, however, as she waited for Edge to make the first move while she continued to state up at a wall without end, this activity had seemed like a good idea from a distance but now she was having second doubts. She was more than well aware that Edge was more than physically fit and capable, but it was another thing to be here, staring up at this towering obstacle.

“Hey-hey Edge, just be careful, okay? No rash-“

He summoned a pointed red bone in each of his hands, before leaping towards the wall and plunged both bones firmly into the rocky wall. While Y/n clung to his shirt, still trying to recover from Edge’s seemingly impulsive act, he had already placed his bare foot on the rocky wall, straighten his leg, and used the momentum to propel himself further up, a firm swing and plunge of his hand had him anchored to the cliff higher up.

“Jeez Edge! A little warning!” she chastised.

“WHAT’S THE MATTER?” Edge laughed, looking over at her tightly clinging to his tank top, “I THOUGHT YOU WERE AN EXPERT AT CLIMBING?”

“Yeah, well you can still accidentally shake me off Edge!” She cried out, not relaxing her grip, “Look Edge, I know that you could easily scale this thing in seconds if you wanted to, but the point of rock climbing isn’t to ice-pick your way up!”

“HOW CAN THERE BE ANY OTHER POINT BUT TO USE THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS TO CLIMB UP IN THE MOST EFFICIENT MANNER?” Edge asked, swinging himself further up, once again jarring Y/n.

“The point is to take your time, look for paths and handholds that you can use to naturally pull yourself up!” She gestured at the wall, “Otherwise you might as well just summon more bones and create the path yourself if you're going to use your magic like this!”

“SO YOU WANT ME TO NOT USE MY MAGIC?!” Edge glared over at her.

“I want you to take your time and enjoy the challenge Edge.”

He looked away, glaring at the stone wall in front of them.

“Edge?”

Releasing his hold on one of his bones, Edge moved his hand to a nearby ledge, pulling himself more firmly on it. The moment his other hand joined him, both bones (still impaled into the cliff) vanished without a trace.

“DON’T THINK THAT YOU’VE CONVINCED ME PEST. I-I JUST REALISED HOW BORING THIS ACTIVITY WAS AND THOUGHT I WOULD ACTUALLY GIVE MYSELF A CHALLENGE!” He said, looking for his next hold.

She smiled, “Of course not.”

He huffed and continued climbing.

~*~

Now that he was taking his time, Edge’s pace slowed down long enough that he actually noticed how the wall changed in front of him, pointing out odd formations to her with interest, which she quickly returned. She, in turn, helped him by being able to see holds he had otherwise missed, subtly telling him that she thought one direction looked more pleasant than the other.

For the most part, they were silent, each listening to the sea crashing off to the side and enjoying the salty sea air blowing across their bodies. Short of her subtle hints and him noting natural formations the further he climbed, the pair listened, rather than talked.

That was, till Edge made another observation.

“YOU SEEM TO BE HANDLING YOURSELF BEING OUT OF THE HOUSE BETTER THAN YOU LET ON.” he said, eyeing her over his shoulder.

She shrugged, “I really don’t know what to say Edge. I mean, I was a bit upset this morning, but right now? Now I’m just going along with the flow…guess I'm okay being out here after all.”

Edge scoffed, looking back to the cliff, “IF YOU REALLY THINK THAT, THEN YOU’RE IN BIGGER DENIAL THAN I THOUGHT.”

“What do you mean?”

He kept climbing, “YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND. YOU’RE TOO HUMAN.”

“So you’re not going to explain at all?” she asked angrily.

“WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT TO YOU?!” he growled, stopping mid climb as his fists dug deep into the bare rock.

“Because you know something and you’re not going to tell me? How is that fair Edge?!”

“YOUR SOUL IS BARELY DETECTABLE, OKAY?!”

There was stunned silence as Edge growled under his breath and Y/n felt her breath hitch.

“My-my soul?” she asked, placing her hand to her chest.

Edge resumed his climb up, a lot quicker now.

“What do you mean it’s barely detectable? What’s does that mean?!”

After a while, and with obviously great reluctance, Edge continued “SOULS ALWAYS SHRINK AND TRY TO HIDE WHEN THEY FEEL THREATENED OR SCARED.” He laughed bitterly, “AND OF COURSE YOU’RE SCARED TO BE OUT OF THE HOUSE, TO BE ALONE WITH ME.”

“But I don’t feel scared or threatened.” she insisted.

Edge shrugged and continued to climb. “DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOUR SOUL IS HARDLY THERE.”

They fell into an awkward silence, neither one of them enjoy the sounds of the beach anymore.

“Do-do the others know? Can they sense the same thing?” she whispered.

Edge growled, “NOT MANY MONSTERS CAN SENSE AS SHARPLY AS ME AND MY BROTHER CAN.” He looked over his shoulder at her, “BUT YES.”

“Oh.”

Edge continued to climb, no longer pausing to note things she knew he would have just moments ago.

Slowly, after thinking about what he said, Y/n gently patted Edge’s shoulder, startling him still as he neared the top. “Edge, I-I know nothing about souls, but I swear, I’m not afraid right now.” She shrugged, “I’ve been feeling pretty consistent all day, actually.”

“REALLY?” he asked, looking over at her in disbelief.

She smiled gently, “I promise.”

His gaze was searching, till eventually he brightened and returned to the cliff, quickly pulling himself up and over the edge. Happy to stretch her cramped muscles, Y/n dropped from Edge’s shirt and moved around the cliff top, eventually leaving over to look at how far they had climbed.

“YOU’RE AWFULLY BRAVE FOR ONE SO SMALL, SO HIGH UP.”

She laughed, looking back up at Edge who had been watching her thoughtfully. “You know, I was just thinking who would fair better from a drop like this?” She looked back down and experienced a bit of vertigo, quickly deciding she rather not topple off after just reaching the top, before sitting down with her legs hanging off the ledge to watch the sea and beach below.

After a while, she looked back to see Edge quickly looking away, a blush on his cheeks. Smiling, she patted the ground next to her. “Come on Edge, you might as well take a break. It’s a long way down.”

“YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE YOU’RE PLANNING TO PUSH ME OFF PEST.”

She laughed, falling backwards as she stared up at Edge, upside down, “Seriously Edge? Are you that paranoid about me?” She grinned, “I’m far more likely to put a tack down just as you were sitting.”

He seemed to consider that, before he gingerly sat down, using one of his hands to thoroughly check his spot before fully committing.

Chuckling and pushing herself up, Y/n watched as Edge dangled his long legs off the cliff as well, before the pair turned to watch the sea and all the people below them. Y/n quickly glanced over at Edge just once, noting strangle how much he looked like Papyrus happy when he wasn’t with the scowl, and how he actually looked relaxed for once. As she turned back to the beach, that thought brought a smile to her face.

~*~

“y/n! edge!”

They looked down to see Stretch standing at the cliff’s base. When he saw them looking down at him, he waved, pointing to the ground next to him before leaning back, his hands settling back into his pockets.

“Guess he wants us to come down.” she said, looking for a way down.

“TOUGH! I’M NOT GOING DOWN JUST BECAUSE HE ASKED!” Edge cried out angrily, folding his arms.

“Well, I’d like to see what he wants.” She stood up with a stretch, before looking at Edge, expectantly. “Can I ask you to lower me down with your magic?”

“AND HAVE YOU SOMEHOW SHAKE IT OFF AND FALL ALL THE WAY DOWN?” he shook his head, “I DOUBT YOU COULD SURVIVE SUCH A FALL.”

She thought about the few times the skeletons had tried to grab her with their magic and she had shaken them off. She also thought about the times she was relaxed and didn’t fight back, allowing them to transport her where they will. It seemed she had at least some control over that, and the fact she did, appeared to be making Edge uneasy.

Thinking of alternatives, she asked “Should we just get Stretch to teleport up here then?”

Edge scowled at her, before he reluctantly snapped his fingers and another one of those large dog-like skull creatures materialised before him. It nuzzled up to his hand, before he pushed it away as it whined about not getting a pat.

Edge snapped his fingers again and pointed to the ground before Y/n, where the creature slowly lowered to her eye level, its red glowing eyes narrowed in suspicion as it growled softly. Absentmindedly, she raised her hand towards it, and the creature quickly snapped at her, making her instantly draw her hand back.

“Is the plan to get this guy to carry me down?” She looked up at Edge “How is this safer?” she asked, as the creature continued to growl.

Edge flinched, before clenching his fists. “DO YOU TRUST ME?” he asked.

“I trust you just fine.” She eyed the creature again wearily, “it’s the growling, snapping skull that shoots death lasers that I’m doubting.”

“THAN TRUST THAT WE ARE BOTH THE ONE AND SAME THING, AND THAT YOU WILL BE FINE.”

She turned to him, thoroughly confused by that statement, “And what’s that suppose to mean?!”

He sighed wearily, rubbing his eyes before flinging out his arm in exasperation, “DO YOU WANT ME TO GIVE YOU A LESSON ON HOW MAGIC WORKS OR DO YOU PLAN TO TALK TO THE ASHTRAY BEFORE HE DISINTEGRATED INTO DUST?!”

She stared at him a moment longer, before reaching her hand out again, ignoring the creature’s attempts to scare her off with its growls and little jaw snaps. The moment she made contact and placed her hand of its snout, the creature flinched, its eyes darting quickly away as its growling stopped dead.

Grinning at her success, she looked back up to Edge, to see him staring at her in amazement, quickly looking away when she met his eye.

“W-WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

Nodding, she nimbly jumped onto the top of creature’s head, turning sideways so she could sit up while holding one of its horns for stability. The creature slowly rose into the air, hoving over to Edge, who nodded at it, his eye linger on her. The creature then flew away from him, hovering mid-air over the cliff drop, before slowly dropping. Y/n looked away from the upcoming ground and waved goodbye to Edge, who watched her go.

Stretch watched her approach him, his eyebrow raised in surprise as the creature lowered completely to the sand, allowing her jump off. The creature continued to stare at her for a long moment, before rising into the air, growling at Stretch, and simply vanishing from sight.

Looking up, Y/n could no longer see Edge; the place he had been sitting in was now empty.

“love to know how you pulled that off fun size.”

She turned to see Stretch strolling towards her, oddly impressed.

“What, sit on a moving bone creature?” She laughed, “let’s just say that I’ve had practice.”

Stretch grinned, bending down to pick her up. “come on, there’s something i’ve been waiting to show you all day.”

~*~

Stretch had walked away from the sandy beach, following the rocky walls of the cliff away. All attempts to get him to at least hint where he was taking her had only gotten her new puns to add to her mental collection, his grin ever broaden as she grew playfully frustrated by his responses.

Before long, however, Stretch stopped at an outcrop of rocks, gesturing with a vague, 'ta-da' motion.

Y/n leaned over his shoulders as she clung to his bare back, trying to see what deserved a ta-da.

“What is it?” she asked, looking to see him grinning over at her.

Still smiling, Stretch stepped over the ledge, feet first into a small, yet deep, natural rock pool.

Y/n’s eyes sparkled as she saw a few fish, many shells and clear sea water was held within a natural rock formation. Before she could help herself, Y/n climbed over Stretch's shoulders as he sat on the lip of the rock pool, diving head first into the water.

The cool water hit her at once, her only recently dried shirt and pants quickly becoming saturated again as she swam back to the surface. Giddy with glee, she swam the length of the rock pool, welcoming the slight stinging in her eyes as she enjoyed real seawater.

After her first lap, she swam over the Stretch’s leg, who was leaning back, watching her happily.

“Thank you so much Stretch!” she cried, wrapping herself around his fibula.

Stretch smiled lazily, reaching for his board shorts pocket and pulling out her towel. “i found this place early on and i figured you’d like it. sorry i didn’t bring the sunscreen, but at least i remembered your towel.”

Y/n looked towards the setting sun, shrugging, “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She turned to grinning back at him, “And you can forget about the towel because I plan to live here!”

Stretch chuckled, “you sure like the water?”

She nodded, floating on her back, “It’s been forever since I last came to the beach. I honestly didn’t I think I’d miss it this much!”

“how long ago was that?”

She grinned, staring up at the sky, “that’d have to be when I came here with my family.” She doggy paddled away from Stretch, enjoying the motion. “The first thing my sister and I would do when we got here was to race each other to the beach with our boards, diving head first into the water. Oh how she squealed every time the water hit her!”

Stretch chuckled along with her, idly kicking his feet and grinning when he saw that doing so created a current for Y/n to drift along.

“what else you get up to?" He asked, mildly curious.

“Oh, nothing outlandish like half of the stuff you guys showed me today.”

She saw particular interesting shell below her, so she dived down for it, taking her time to enjoy the sensation of being suspended in clear, cool water, floating aloft in her own world. Once she grabbed the shell, she swam back to the surface, bringing it along with her to the edge.

Stretch had his hand out in the water, and she gladly dumped her shell with him, swimming away from him on her back once she had done so. “My brother and I would bury our napping dad in the sand, decorating him with shells and clumps of seaweed, while mum would take so many photos it was practically a stop-motion movie. Best thing about that was how my sister would always complain about all those photos, only for her to, later on in life, turn around and do the exact same thing! Meanwhile, Nan would always just walk along the beach’s shore, her old feet always in the water.”

Y/n’s chest gave a particularly painful throb, and she slowed to a stop in the water. Confused, and with Edge’s words still floating in her mind, she allowed herself to float adrift on the current Stretch was still supplying, trying to pinpoint what it was she was feeling exactly.

It wasn’t happiness, it wasn’t sadness, wasn’t nostalgia or anything really.

It was still just that numbing sensation; like being here was all just a dream. Like it was happening to someone else.

Stretch seemed to notice her silence, because he stopped moving his feet to bend over and scope her out from the water. “you doing okay fun size?”

She shook herself, turning to grin up at his worried face. “I’m okay,” She stood up, preparing to dive off his hand, “but I’ll be better when I get back into the water!”

~*~

Y/n spent the remaining time she had diving for shells and fighting the current generated from Stretch’s legs. Stretch himself seemed content to allow her to swim between his moving legs, watching her gather shells and trying to catch the fish when they came out. They didn’t speak much, beyond communicating on interesting things the other saw, but there was an easy and comfort in each other's presence that didn’t require constant chatter. It was oddly relaxing, and greatly appreciated by Y/n as she could already feel how physically drained she was as the sun set.

Before long, a message sounded off and Stretch reached into his short’s pockets and pulled out his phone.

“everyone’s done packing.” He looked up from the screen, “are you going to come back with me or am i going to have to tell blue i set you free into the wild?”

Shaking her head, Y/n reached the side of the rock pool and pulled herself out, the full weight as gravity returned was immediately noticed and not at all appreciated as she struggled to fully stand. She felt her towel softly drop on her, and she quickly wrapped herself in it, grateful for the warmth and concern.

“Thanks Stretch.” She smiled warmly up at him, tried.

He grinned back, lowering his hand so that she could sit on his hand as he stood up in the rock pool. He looked down to see her sitting on his palm, leaning heavily on his thumb.

“hey y/n, can you tell me the name of every piece of equipment you have in the workshop?” he asked, nonsensically.

“What?”

He shrugged, “i was hoping you could help me out with something.”

Not really seeing the point, but feeling inclined to help, Y/n mentally went through what she knew she had, listing them out loud, “Well, I have sanders, electric tools, the tube bending machine, -“

An odd, free-falling sensation endlessly overtook her, but by the time she noticed it, she was in a different place than she had been, still listing things for a few seconds.

“the polisher, the fabricators and wielding-“ she stopped, grabbing her stomach as it twisted in only slight discomfort. Turning, she looked back at Stretch, who was watching her in concern.

Seeing her looking at him, he shrugged, “i know that teleporting can be…unpleasant. blue tells me that thinking about something else helped ease the sensation?”

“It did,” she agreed, “but I wish you could have given me some warning.”

“sorry fun size.”

“Y/N!” “Y/N!”

Y/n turned back around to see Blueberry and Papyrus dressed back in their throw-over clothes, back to wearing shirts (and proper pants, as was in Papyrus's case). From here, she could see the two cars packed and ready to go, with Red leaning on Edge’s car and watching the sunset peacefully next to his brother, who scowled at humans open gawking at him. Sans waited by Papyrus’s car, looking tiredly at his phone.

Before they got too close, however, Stretch pulled her back. “easy guys. not everyone was the boundless energy of you two.”

They skidded to a halt, looking sheepish.

“WE-WE KNOW THAT.” muttered Blueberry, toying with his fingers.

“WE JUST WANTED TO SHARE OUR AMAZING TRIUMPHS AT BODYBOARD SURFING!” exclaimed Papyrus, proudly.

Stretch grinned, “well, that sounds like something i’d like to hear. mind if i switch with sans, paps?”

“NOT AT ALL!” beamed Papyrus.

Stretch nodded, putting his hand into his other pocket and pulling out a small fist full of shells. “while i go and ask, can i ask you two to find a safe place for these shells? y/n picked them out herself.”

“SHE DID?!” they cried out, their eyes sparkling, before their shoulders fell.

“WE DIDN’T COLLECT ANY SHELL!S”

“I DIDN’T THINK WE WERE ALLOWED!”

Grinning, Stretch carried Y/n over to Sans, casually winking at the edgy brothers, causing Red to smirk and Edge to splutter.

“YOU BETTER NOT BE EXPECTING A LIFT WITH ME ASHTRAY, BECAUSE YOU JUST LOST ANY CHANCE IN HELL YOU HAD OF THAT HAPPENING!!”

“already got it covered.” replied Stretch, already past him.

Stretch leaned back on Papyrus’s car as Sans sighed warily, putting away his phone.

“trouble?” Stretch asked.

Sans sighed again, “no, and that’s worrying me.”

Stretch held Y/n out to him, “why don’t you take y/n with you into edge’s car? you two look like you could do with a quiet trip.” He looked down at her, “assuming that works for you?”

“Yes please.” Y/n sighed gratefully, sliding onto Sans’s clothed shoulder.

She loved Papyrus and Blueberry very much, but she just didn’t have the energy. Today had been a very long day.

~*~

As Edge followed Papyrus's car back home, Y/n was leaning on Sans’s skull, so tired that the position was the most comfortable she could ever recall being. The trip home was relatively quiet, with Red eventually turning around in his seat to grin at her.

“hey there babydoll, i don’t think i’ve ever seen yer look so tired. not even when ya actually fell asleep during that lightning storm.”

“I feel like falling asleep.” She mumbled, and that was partially true. Physically, she felt drained, but mentally…something was off and that something was keeping her from falling asleep, accidentally or otherwise.

Sans chuckled, slight jarring her further awake. After a while he sighed, whispering to her softly, “y/n, i just wanted to let you know how much this day has meant to the guys…i know it wasn’t easy for ya, but you did it anyway. thank you.”

She waved him off, “After yesterday, it was the least I could do. Besides, I think everyone had fun, so I guess it was worth it in the end.”

Sans nodded, and the car fell back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey.

Y/n watched the world pass beyond the car's window, passing the landmarks she knew as the area grew more familiar the further they travelled. Although tired, she could feel herself eager for home, looking forward to finally being back inside her house. The moment she saw it, she could feel herself mentally unwinding, the thing that kept her from truly feeling comfortable and okay clicking back into place, as her place in the world returned into view. Invigorated, she got her second wind, profoundly glad to be home. She had enjoyed today, looking back on all her memories with the guys fondly, happily even, but being home just felt right.

Which is why when she saw a strange motorbike with a side-car parked in her front yard, she felt a flash of anger and fear.

“son of a bitch.” growled Red, under his breath.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING HERE?!” Edge hissed, his glare matching his brother's.

“Who is it?” Y/n asked, looking around at the worried and livid expressions around her.

“guess you’ll see in a second.” sighed Sans, unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car.

Papyrus, Blueberry and Stretch were already out of their car and were walking towards them, concerned.

“SANS! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US WE HAD A GUEST?” asked Papyrus, looking conflicted.

“the word ‘guest’ assumes invitation paps, which i certainly didn’t offer.”

“THEN HOW DID THEY FIND US?!” Edge cried out in frustration.

“BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS ARE PITIFULLY INEPT AND WOEFULLY INFERIOR WHEN COMPARED TO MY MALEVOLENT SELF AND MY SUPERIOR TRACKING SKILLS!”

As one, all the skeletons turned to the house to see a new, short skeleton in tight, black thigh-high socks, black shorts and black top with pointed shoulder pads, wearing knee-high deep purple boots and matching colours for the bandana tied around his neck and wicked looking gloves, smirking at them from the front door. A tall, lanky skeleton was leaning on the door frame behind him, his tight black pants and short-sleeved black furred jacket enhanced the orange turtle-neck shirt and a studded collar around his neck. Both had scars over one of their eye sockets, but only the tall one had a gold fang. Overall, these two fashion choices remind Y/n heavily of Red and Edge when she first saw them.

Like he could sense her looking him over, the short skeleton's deep purple eye lights were drawn to Y/n standing on Sans’s shoulder, his sharp smile broadening.

“HELLO PET!” he grinned.

 

Next Chapter is called: The Swap after the Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As special thank you to all the people on Discord who helped me with the next chapter’s title =)! I still think it’s really obvious, but the fact that you guys liked it made me like too.


	13. The Swap after the Fall

“Y/N IS NOT A PET!” Blueberry cried out, indigent on her behalf.

But the short skeleton waved a dismissive hand towards him, “QUITE CHILD! THE ADULTS ARE SPEAKING!”

“WE’RE THE SAME AGE!” Blueberry tried to approach the short skeleton, but he was quickly restrained by Stretch and Papyrus on either side of him.

“BLUE! DON’T FALL INTO HIS TRAPS TO ENRAGE YOU!”

“he’s not worth it bro.”

Meanwhile, the short skeleton was laughing maniacally by the front door, pointing and laughing at Blueberry, who continued to glare at him through Stretch’s and Papyrus’s restraining arms. “YES! PROTECT THE BABY! WE WOULDN’T WANT HIM TO HURT HIMSELF NOW, WOULD WE?!”

“what are you doing here blackberry?” Sans asked, taking a step towards him with Red and Edge flanking him.

The tall skeleton pushed himself away from his resting position on the front door’s archway to stand behind the short skeleton, protectively, his face giving away nothing of what he may be thinking or feeling.

Blackberry, however, stamped his foot in irritation, “DO NOT CALL ME THAT!” he folded his arms, “IF I AM FORCED TO ABIDE BY A STUPID NICKNAME, YOU WILL NOT CALL ME ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH THAT CHILD!!”

“whatever you say, brat.” Red grinned, with Edge snickering next to him.

“WHAT WAS THAT, YOU DISGUSTING PERVERTED SLOB?!” shrieked the short skeleton.

Red's grin fell, “i said, -“

“red! that’s not helping.” Sans spoke over him, exasperated, before looking back at the enraged short skeleton, “black, what are you two doing here?”

Black scoffed, his smile curling into smugness, “WHAT, THOUGHT YOU FOOLS COULD HIDE FROM ME?”

“WE WEREN’T HIDING, YOU IDIOT!” Edge exclaimed, folding his arms, “YOU WERE THE ONES THAT DECIDED TO STAY BEHIND!”

“ONLY BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO LOOK AT YOUR UGLY FACES EVER AGAIN! BESIDES,” Black’s eyes focused on Y/n, “I SHOULD BE THE ONE SURPRISED, SEEING HOW I WAS TOLD GETTING A PET WAS EXPRESSIVELY FORBIDDEN.”

“STOP CALLING HER A PET!” spat Blueberry, side-stepping around his brother and Papyrus to stand next to Y/n, still on Sans’s shoulder.

“AND SANS NEVER FORBADE YOU FROM GETTING A PET!” Papyrus said, quickly moving to stand next to Blueberry, one arm holding him back as he looked at Black, “ONLY FROM ADOPTING A BITTY! I EVEN OFFERED TO TAKE YOU TO A PET SHOP AND PICK OUT A NICE TORTOISE WITH YOU!”

“IF I WANTED A STUPID TORTOISE, I WOULD HAVE GONE BY MYSELF!” Black’s eyes focused on her, “BUT A BITTY, A SMALL HUMAN?! NOW, WOULDN’T THAT MAKE FOR A FINE PET FOR MY MALEVOLENT SELF?”

He turned to the tall skeleton behind him. “MUTT,” he commanded, “I WANT THAT PET.”

In a flash, all the skeletons she knew steeped in front of her, protectively. But Y/n eyes stayed focused on the shorter skeleton, who had doubled over at seeing them move so quickly, laughing at them.

“DI-DID YOU SEE HOW QUICKLY THEY MOVED TO PROTECT IT?!” he snickered.

Mutt smirked, his eyes scrolling over all of them, “very quickly, m’lord.”

Black wiped away tears of mirth from the corner of his eyes, before his expression grew thoughtful, “ISN’T THAT…INTERESTING?”

“last time black,“ Sans said, pushing himself to the front of their group, closer to Black and Mutt, “what are you doing here?”

Black scoffed, “DON’T PRETEND THAT’S YOUR REAL QUESTION!” he waved a dismissive hand at Sans, “THE FREAKS ARE FINE WHERE THEY ARE, YOUR VIRUS IS STILL SPYING ON THEM, AND THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHERE YOU ALL ARE.”

“then how did you find us?” growled Red.

“LIKE I WOULD HONESTLY TELL YOU THAT!”

Sans sighed heavily, “then what are you doing here, specifically? last you said, you had enough being there and were looking to move on, which i said you could on the same conditions i give everyone else.”

“YEAH? WELL, I KNEW YOU WERE HIDING SOMETHING, ESPECIALLY SEEING AS HOW YOU WERE AWFULLY QUICK TO SEE ME AND MY BROTHER GO WHEN WE BOTH KNOW YOU NEED EVERY BIT OF HELP YOU CAN GET!” Black folded his arms, sneering down at Sans, “I ASSUME YOUR MACHINE IS STILL BROKEN?”

“THAT’S NOT FAIR BLACK!” Papyrus walked next to his brother, placing both arms on Sans’s shoulders and gently brushing against Y/n in the process, supportively, “IT’S ONLY BEEN UNDER TWO WEEKS SINCE WE MOVED OUT!”

“AND YET YOU’VE HAD TIME TO GO ON A HOLIDAY AND GET YOURSELVES A PET? LOOKS LIKE I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU FOOLS HIDING SOMETHING AFTER ALL!” He sneered at the whole lot of them “WHO KNEW IT WAS THAT YOU WERE ALL HYPOCRITES!”

Mutt lowered his head towards Black, saying quietly, “m’lord?” Black cocked his head slightly towards his direction as he continued to return everyone’s glares, “perhaps now would be a good time to give them your demands?”

“AH!” Black straightened up, grinning, “I CAME OVER HERE TO FIND WHAT YOU WERE ALL HIDING SO THAT I COULD USE IT AGAINST YOU AND THEN DEMAND THE TWO VERY BEST ROOMS FOR MY PERSONAL USE,“ his sharp grin widened as his eyes locked on to Y/n’s, “BUT I THINK I’LL ALSO ADD GETTING YOUR PET INTO THAT ARRANGEMENT NOW!”

“WHAT RIDICULOUSNESS IS THIS?!” Edge cried out, striding towards the smug Black, who stared up at his glowering face, unflinching, “’DEMAND’ ALL YOU WANT, YOU SPOILED BRAT! WE DON’T HAVE TO GIVE IN TO YOU OR YOUR PITIFUL DEMANDS!”

“YES YOU DO!” Black moved sideways to look around Edge and back at Sans, “OR I’LL GO BACK TO MT EBBOTT AND TELL EVERYONE THERE MY LITTLE SECRET! MAYBE I’LL EVEN TELL THE HUMANS! WHAT DO I CARE WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT?! IT’S NOT MY HOME, AFTER ALL!”

Stunned silence followed this; even Edge did a double step back. Y/n looked behind her and saw all of her friends' faces mixed with apprehension, frustration and rage. Sans himself was clenching his fists at his sides, the lights in his eyes gone out.

_‘Whatever this secret is, this brat is threatening my friends into complying with his wishes.’_

Well, she knew where she stood on threats.

“If I agree to be with you,” Y/n called out, clearly, “You, and that tall skeleton behind you, have to agree to leave this place and never return, swearing also to never reveal that secret to anyone, in any form, for as long as you both live.”

“AND WHY WOULD I BARGAIN WITH MY FUTURE PET?” Black asked her, aloft.

“Because I am not Sans’s, or anyone else's pet, and because nothing anyone says will ever make me comply with your wishes!” She glared at him, “I promise you; if you take me, without my consent, I’ll fight you with everything I have, every second of every day!”

As one, the skeletons all turned to look at her, all of them speaking at the same time:

Edge moved away from Black and towards her as he waved his arms in exasperation, “STOP WITH THIS FOOLISH NONSENSE! DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM!!”

Sans looked at her, “y/n, you don’t have to do this. we’ll find another way to settle this.“

“I WON’T LET YOU GO WITH HIM!” Blueberry cried, reaching for her, “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HE’S LIKE Y/N!“

“Y/N! DON’T DO THIS, PLEASE!” Papyrus begged, tear gathering in his eyes.

“you’ve got another thing coming if you think we’re letting him take you without a fight, fun size.” Stretch said, moving in front of her and Sans.

“if that tiny tyrant thinks he can get within one mile of you babydoll,” Red growled, his eye flashing menacingly as he moved to Stretch’s side. “he’s got another thing coming.”

Y/n pushed away Blueberry’s hand and jumped off Sans’s shoulder to land on Red’s, “While I appreciate the support guys, I can do what I want.” She glared at Black, who, along with Mutt, were watching the guys trying to plead and persuade her in mild surprise and peeked interest, “Especially if it helps my friends.” She called out to him, “Do we have a deal?”

Black looked away from her piercing, determined stare, to notice the other skeletons’ expressions around her. Something about their expressions must have brought him joy, because he quickly smiled, grinning eagerly, “DEAL!”

But Y/n shook her head, “I want to hear you swear to it! Say the whole thing properly!”

Black rolled his eyes, but replied, “I SWEAR TO LEAVE HERE AND NEVER COME BACK AND I SWEAR TO NEVER REVEAL MY SECRET TO ANY MONSTER OR HUMAN, AS LONG AS I LIVE.”

“And the other skeleton!”

Mutt smirked, sinking back into his jacket, “i agree to any and all conditions m’lord agrees to.”

“THERE!” cried Black, “NOW COME OVER HERE TO YOUR NEW MASTER!”

Yet Y/n shook her head, “I don’t know you from any other pile of bones. How do I know you’ll keep your word?”

“ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR?!”

“Then swear to me on the most important thing you hold dear!”

Black growled, looking away thoughtful. Eventually, he brightened and turned back to her, “I SWEAR ON MY POSITION AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD AND ON MY VERY SOUL, I WILL NEVER TELL ANYONE MY SECRETE, AND TO NEVER COME BACK HERE! **NOW COME HERE!!”**

Y/n flinched at his tone, but nodded, glad that the deal had been struck.

_‘Now to honour my side of things.’_

Leaping off Red’s shoulder, Y/n noticed that all on her skeleton friends took a step towards her. She turned around and raised her hands, “Guys stop! Let me do this…please.” She smiled gently, before slowly winking.

Quickly turning around, Y/n walked towards the grinning and indifferent skeletons, approaching Black and climbing onto his offered hand as he crouched to get her. Once she was on, he lifted her to his shoulder, gleefully grinning as he watched her gingerly settle on his shoulder.

With a triumphant cry, he turned and taunted his victory, “MWHA HAH HA! YOUR PRECIOUS PET IS MINE AND MINE ALONE NOW!!”

The skeletons she knew continued to glare at him, looking at her with deep concern.

“Is-is this what’s it’s like to be with you?” she asked tentatively, patting down his shoulder and looking behind her to see Mutt once again leaning on the open front door’s archway, eyeing her.

Black puffed on his chest, “QUITE PET! ENJOY BEING PART OF THE WINNING TEAM FOR ONCE, IN SILENCE! I HAVEN’T FINISHED TAUNTING YOUR PREVIOUS OWNERS YET!”

But Y/n simply shook her head, “No, I need to clarify that I am, indeed, with you.”

Black turned to look at her, angrily perplexed, “WHA- OF COURSE YOU’RE WITH ME! WHAT-?“

But he never got a chance to finish that sentence, because the next thing he knew, Y/n had punched him as hard as she could, really hurting her wrist in the process as his head spun the other way. Before he could recover, she leapt off his shoulder and jumped towards the open front door. Orange magic grabbed her, but she easily shook it off, startling Mutt, who had not been expecting her capable of doing that. By the time the two recovered from their shooks, Y/n was already running for the front door’s air vent, sliding in past the bars and running further in.

“GET BACK HERE!!!” screamed Black, his voice ringing through the entire house, the sounds of fighting clearly happening in the background.

Heart pounding, Y/n struggled to climb up using what had to be at least a sprained wrist. Just as she finished pulling herself to the next floor’s level, she was bathed in purple light. Looking down, she saw a fanged dog-like skull creature, flying at her with its mouth open wide in a snarl. Fully panicked, she ran for her life, but didn’t manage to get very far as she felt two sets of very sharp fangs dragging along her back, snapping shut around her raggy shirt and bikini, before dragging her backwards and down where she had come from.

She screamed and struggled to pull herself free, even as Black’s voice called out, triumphant, “HA! I’VE GOT HER!” somewhere below her.

 **“enough!!”** shouted Sans’s voice.

The creature at her back vanished, and Y/n was left to fall the rest of the way down, her arm held out to embrace for the impact.

*Thump!*

“Ahhhh!”

Y/n felt her sore hand bend too far towards her body, her shriek of pain ringing around her as tears spilled over her cheeks. Gasping through her sobs, laying flat on the cold air vent ground, she looked up to see purple eye lights staring in at her in shock, anger and…betrayal.

“Y/N!”

The eye lights looked away, shifting awkwardly in place as if the owner struggled to raise. Before that happened, however, someone was pushing it aside and soon, Papyrus’s eye light peered in instead, his expression twisting in sorrow as he saw her struggling to breathe through her sobs and tears. Quickly and delicately, his hand reached in towards her, stretching out fully to reach for her and falling just short. Still sobbing, Y/n dragged herself towards the hand, letting herself be wrapped up in his protective grasp as he brought her out.

As Papyrus struggled to stand, Y/n looked around at the carnage of the front door and yard.

Black was still struggling to raise up from the floor near the ground floor vent Papyrus had just pulled her from, with Mutt also struggling to push himself up by the front door’s landing, glaring at Papyrus, as he lay in a pile of shattered door fragments. There were holes punctured through every surface in the hall, with bits of wall plaster and floorboards scattered everywhere.

The front yard itself also had holes and freshly turned dirt everywhere, with only Sans was standing in amidst her other friends, who were struggling to raise, putting away his phone. From here, she could tell that windows had been smashed and even more holes now lined her house outer walls, leaving distinct dents in the drywalls inside the house.

 _‘Really didn’t think this though.’_ She thought glumly, noting all the damage.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?!” shrieked Black.

Sans ignored him, instead, walking towards her and Papyrus slowly and staggering, “she okay?” he asked, softly.

Papyrus shook his head, looking sadly down at her and her curled up position on his hand.

“I-I’m *Sob* I’m okay.” She cried out, despite her best efforts to control her breathing and the pain, her hand held protectively to her chest.

She felt a stinging sensation as something was gently dragged across her back, making her hiss in further pain.

“blood.” Sans said simply, looking at his finger he had just used to confirm his fears.

Slowly, he turned to glare down at Black, his smile tight.

“leave him alone!!” roared Mutt, now standing and leaning heavily on the doorframe. “if you touch him, i swear-“ He took a step forward and fell flat on his face, the solid sound of bone hitting hard on equally solid ground ringing out.

“RUS!!” cried out Black, his own struggles increasing in fever as he dragged himself over to Mutt’s collapsed form, moving to placing himself in front of him as Mutt struggled up into a sitting position. “TOUCH HIM AND I’LL END YOU, AND EVERYONE YOU’VE EVER CARED FOR SLOWLY!! STARTING WITH THE LYING BITTY!!”

Ignoring the pair, Sans looked over his shoulder and up at Papyrus, “do you know if we have any monster candy?”

Papyrus shook his head, sheepishly, “I-I ER GUESS I FORGOT TO BUY SOME.” His shoulders fell as he continued to look at Y/n’s crying form, “I’M SUCH AN IRRESPONSIBLE MONSTER AND FRIEND.”

Sans moved to gently pat him, “s’okay bro. we all forget things from time to time, s’not a big deal.”

“I GUESS.” Papyrus said, sadly.

“sans!” bellowed Red, still flat on his back in the front yard, “what the fuck is this shit?!”

“it’s okay guys, i’ve just expanded the anti-magic field, that’s all.” He looked down at the two skeletons still struggling in front of him to place themselves in front of the other, “think i’ll keep it like this till we’ve sorted this out. you all should be fine once you’ve gotten used having your magic repressed.”

“GOOD THING WE’VE HAD PLENTY OF PRACTICE WHEN WE WERE PERFECTING THIS TECHNOLOGY, RIGHT SANS?” Papyrus added brightly, oblivious to the glares that were thrown his way.

But Sans took it in good mirth, “a-yep.”

He crouched in front of the two glowering monsters, each clearly wanting to hurt him, “now, you two, when you finally get used to it and can stand on your own feet, why don’t we continue this discussion in a far more relaxed and civilised manner?”

“WHY, SO THAT YOU CAN LIE AND TAKE CHEAP SHOTS AT US WHILE WE’RE DOWN!?!” snapped Black, his eyes darting between Y/n and Sans. “WE’LL NEVER SUBMIT TO YOU AND YOUR ‘AUTHORITY’!”

Sans glared down at him, “i’m not the one who invaded someone’s else home, making threats black.”

“NO, BUT I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS ATTACKED FIRST, MOMENTS AFTER MAKING A DEAL AND THEN GETTING STABBED IN THE BACK BY A LIAR!!”

“I didn’t lie.” Y/n insisted, now sitting up in Papyrus's cupped hands, her breathing now under her somewhat control, wiping away the last of her tears.

“YES YOU DID!” screeched Black, “LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!!”

“I said I would be with you, which I was! You never said how long that was!” Y/n snapped back, angry.

Black gaped at her, at a loss for words, before his glare returned and he continued to rise slowly, he and Mutt’s struggle to stand up fully obviously very difficult for the pair. “WHY YOU DECEITFUL, TWO-TIMING-!”

Y/n struggled to stand as well, ignoring the throbbing pain in her wrist, “Now, keep your word and leave!”

Black stood tall, shoulders back, “WHY SHOULD I?! YOU TRICKED ME!! YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT IS NOT WHAT I AGREED TO!!”

“Now who’s the liar?!”

“m’lord?” Mutt asked, placing a hand on Black’s shoulder, “perhaps it would be best-“

But Black shook him off, “I WILL NOT LET THIS INSIGNIFICANT PET TRICK ME, HER RIGHTFUL MASTER!! I’M NOT LEAVING TILL I GET WHAT I AM DUE!”

“You will never be mine, or anyone’s ‘Master’, and what you are due is what you owe! Or are you going to go back on your word, Captian of the Royal Guard?” Y/n sneered.

While Black continued to glare at her in thunderous rage, Mutt sighed heavily, looking towards the front yard and seeing the others already on their feet, moving shakily towards them. “then perhaps we should go home?”

“LIKE HELL I- OH!” Black’s scowl quickly morphed into a smug grin as he stepped towards Y/n, ignoring Sans, who blocked his path to her, “YEAH! I GUESS WE BETTER SAY GOODBYE TO OUR NEIGHBOURS THEN!”

“WHAT FOOLISHNESS IS THIS NOW?!” cried Edge, moving himself to gingerly to stand by Papyrus’s side, with the others moving inside more slowly.

But Y/n’s expression fell, causing Black’s grin to widen. Judging by the look on Sans’s face, he too, had guessed what Black was implying.

Black stood back, smug, the last of the effects of the magic restriction leaving him as his movement returned to his previous energy and fluid, “JUST THE PRIME BIT OF LAND, DIRECTLY ACROSS YOUR HOUSE! WE’RE THE OWNERS OF THAT NOW, AND SO THAT MAKES US YOUR NEIGHBOURS!”

Edge scoffed, “YOU CANNOT BUY LAND THAT WE ALREADY OWN, YOU IDIOT! SOME HUMAN HAS OBVIOUSLY TRICKED-“

But Y/n spoke up, reluctantly, “He’s not making it up Edge. We don’t own all the land around us.”

All eye lights focused on her, leaving her to cradle her arm as she explained, “My great- whatever, grandfather bought this land but made sure to leave that bit of it to be owned by the bank.”

“WHY?!” cried out Edge.

Y/n sighed, exasperated, “He always wanted this to be a community area, swore that would happen one day! He said that if there was land people saw they could buy, we’d get neighbours, who would then tell other people how great it was living here and he could sell a bit of our land to people who asked him about other lands close by, building up a community that way. By the time anyone in my family noticed, it was several generations later and every owner since then kinda just viewed the whole thing as quaint, family lore. No one seriously thought someone would buy it, and it seemed like a waste of money just to keep something that had never been hinted at happening from happening!”

“i noticed that block of land when i was sighing the papers, but i didn’t think much about it.” admitted Sans, warily.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!” screeched Edge

“AH HA! AND NOW I AM THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THE LAND, SO IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT YOU CHEATED OUT OF OUR DEAL!” Black’s grin turned into a scowl, “AND I VOW TO RAIN VENGEANCE UPON YOU AND THIS ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD FOR ALL THE INJUSTICES I HAVE SUFFERED THROUGH HERE TODAY!!”

Somehow, this seemed worse than what it had been before. By tricking him into keeping his silence and staying away from her home, she had thought it didn’t matter if she made an enemy; he would be forced to keep his word. If he broke his word it meant he was a liar, that he couldn’t be trusted at all and it didn’t matter that she tricked him. If he did keep his word, then he would have no choice but to leave. But now, not only had she made a powerful enemy, she also couldn’t call him a liar, not if he and Mutt were content to attack from a distance. There would be no peace, no mercy from these guys who obviously saw grudges to their bitter ends.

Still, there was one last thing he seemed to be interested in…but it would cost her.

“How about a trade?”

Black scoffed, his scowl returning two-fold, “IF YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT I’LL TRUST ANY DEAL WITH YOU, YOU CONNIVING, TRAITOROUS-“

“Keep the deed to the land then, because that’s not what I’m trading for!”

Black took a step back, his expression absolutely shocked, “NOT WHA- WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?! OF COURSE YOU WANT THAT LAND SO YOU CAN KICK ME OUT!” he scowled, “I BET YOU THOUGHT I DIDN’T NOTICE THAT THE MOMENT I AGREE TO WHATEVER RIGID DEAL YOU OFFER, THE MOMENT YOU OWNED MY LAND, MY WORD AS CAPTAIN WOULD KEEP ME FROM GETTING MY VENGEANCE!”

Rolling her eyes, Y/n stuck her hand out vaguely towards her backyard, “I’m offering-Ah!”

“y/N!” cried out all the skeletons she lived with her, moving in for a closer look as she winched in severe pain.

“IS THAT BLOOD?!” cried out Blueberry, his face twisted in despair.

Y/n tried waving them off with her other hand, “Guys, I’m okay-“

“she’s not using her regular hand either.” Stretch noted, turning to glare at Black.

“what did you creeps do to her?!” growled Red, taking a step forwards Black and Mutt.

But Black held his ground, “ME?! IT WAS YOUR STUPID DEVICE THAT GOT RID OF MY BLASTER WHILE IT WAS HOLDING HER OVER A VENT DROP! IF ANYONE’S TO BLAME, IT’S THAT IDIOT THERE!” he pointed at Sans, who returned his glare.

“those are teeth marks on her back, black. blaster teeth marks.”

Black rolled his eyes, even as Mutt moved more securely to his side as the others squared off, “PLEASE! THOSE MARKS ARE JUST SCRATCHES AT BEST, AND THAT ‘BLOOD’ WAS MORE MARKS THAN AN OPEN WOUND.” He narrowed his eyes at all of them, “BESIDES THE CREAMPUFF AND THE CHILD, ALL OF YOU KNOW HOW EASILY HUMANS BLEED, EVEN PETS LIKE THIS ONE!”

There was an angry silence.

Suddenly, without another word, Edge turned and left the house, moving towards the vehicles.

“boss?” Red called after him, unsure.

Edge didn’t reply.

“HA! AT LEAST ONE OF YOU HAS THE DECENCY TO BE HONEST! ARE YOU ALL FORGETTING THAT SHE PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE?!” Black cried out, indigent.

“i’m thinking she didn’t hit you hard enough.” Red hissed, his fists clenching by his side.

Mutt glared at Red as Black’s scowl deepened, “AND I’M THINKING SHE DIDN’T FALL FAR ENOUGH!”

“why you little sh-“

“QUIT YOU USELESS BICKERING!”

Everyone turned to see Edge walking back inside, holding a plastic bag with something colourful inside it. He chucked this bag to Sans, who caught it in surprise.

“monster candy?” he looked over at Edge, “what are you doing with monster candy?”

Edge looked away as Red stepped in, “s’got healing properties right? so stop asking questions and give some to y/n already.”

Sans looked over at the pair, his gaze searching, before shrugging and fetching out a piece to hand to Y/n.

“EVEN YOU EDGE?!?” Black exclaimed in disbelief, “THE OTHER IDIOTS I COULD UNDERSTAND; EVEN YOU’RE BROTHER HAS A WEAK SIDE TO HIM, BUT YOU?! I EXPECTED BETTER!” he glared at the whole lot of them, “WHAT THE HELL IS WITH ALL THIS DEVOTION TO THIS PET YOU’VE BARELY KNOW FOR TWO WEEKS ANYWAY?!?”

“KEEP STRUGGLING BLACK.” Edge turned to glare at him, “YOU’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND.”

Black returned his glare, before turning away to glare at Y/n instead.

Y/n, meanwhile, took the offered piece, but was watching Sans looking over the other pieces in the bag, his expression thoughtful.

“Anyone else hurt?” she asked.

“we’re good fun size.” Stretch sighed, looking over at Blueberry who hadn’t stopped glaring at Black the moment he entered the house.

Blueberry nodded, his eyes firmly locked with an indifferent Black, “YEAH.” He turned to look at her, his face filled with concern, “YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE THAT AS SOON AS YOU CAN THOUGH. IT’S NOT GOOD TO LET WOUNDS LINGER.”

“What about you two?” Y/n asked, looking over at Black and Mutt.

Black puffed out his chest, “YOUR CHEAP SHOT WAS SO PITIFULLY WEAK THAT IT HARDLY REGISTERED ON MY HOPE LEVELS!”

She nodded, turning to Mutt, “and you?”

Mutt said nothing, his gaze piercing hers.

“OF COURSE HE’S OKAY! I HAVEN’T GIVEN HIM PERMISSION TO- YOU’RE HURT?!”

Black was in the middle of his boasting when he had turned and gestured at Mutt, his eyes suddenly fixing on the crack running through Mutt’s eye socket that was now even more cracked.

Mutt shrugged, looking away, “it’s nothing m’lord.”

“Here.”

Y/n tossed over her candy piece to Mutt, who grabbed it easily before tossing it out the door.

“THAT WASN’T NICE!” cried Papyrus, amidst all the spluttering and growls of everyone else around her.

“Sans,” Y/n said, evenly, “can you hand Black the rest of the pieces?”

He looked confused, but nodded, opening the packet to fetch out another piece, “if you’re sure. let me just get ya another-“

“No, let him have all of it.” she looked at Black “He can decide if I should get a piece or not.”

Black stared at her, flinching when Sans approached him and pressed the bag into his chest, eyeing him sharply. Black appeared indifferent to that, as he returned to stare at her.

Y/n straightened her shoulder, “I won’t lie and say that I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she looked away, “but I will admit that I regret causing damage.”

Black continued to stare at her, before reaching in and fetching the smallest piece he could find. Eyeing the watching skeletons around him, he popped the candy into his mouth, before quickly looking at the bag in surprise.

“IT-IT HEALS?”

“OF COURSE IT HEALS!” exclaimed Edge, “WHY ELSE WOULD I HAVE GOTTEN IT FOR HER?!”

But Black wasn’t listening as he was already turning to Mutt and pushing the bag into his hands. “EAT ALL OF THIS!” he ordered.

Mutt emptied the entire bag into his mouth, and Y/n watched as the scars across his eye shrank back to what they were before, a scar still clear across his eye socket.

 _‘I guess there are limits on how much Monster Candy can heal after time has passed._ ’ She thought, looking at her bruised and swollen wrist.

“WHAT ABOUT Y/N?!” cried out Blueberry.

Black smirked, “I BELIEVE I SAW A PIECE FOR HER OUTSIDE, IN THE DIRT!”

Sensing the mood turning dark again, Y/n quickly cried out, “Guys! Stop!” They looked at her. “I was the one who said he could do what he wanted with the pieces.”

“YEAH! AND I DECIDED NOT TO GIVE HER ONE, SO THERE! MAYBE YOU’LL THINK TWICE BEFORE HITTING ME AGAIN!” Black exclaimed, leaning back smugly.

Sighing, she asked, “I’m sure I’ve only bruised it anyway. Can someone get me a cube of ice, wrapped in something?”

“I’LL GET IT!” proclaimed Blueberry, already rushing to the kitchen.

Smiling fondly after Blueberry, Y/n turned away to look back at Black, who wasn’t looking as smug as he had before. “Okay Black, here’s what I’m offering.” She gestured with her remaining good hand at him, to her house and then to herself, “I don’t know where you came from or why you seem to be insistent about hanging around here, but I know that you want me as a-“

“I COULDN’T CARE LESS ABOUT YOU!!” screeched Black.

She sighed, exasperated “Fine then! Stay the hell away from me for all I care, but you said you came here to blackmail a place for yourself in this house, you can’t deny that!” She waited for him to say something to the contrary, so it was rather surprising he only watched her expectantly. She continued, “That tells me that, despite what happened between us tonight, you still want to live here, on this property.”

“WHAT ARE YOU GETTING AT?” Black asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“kid, i don’t know where you’re going with this-“

She ignored Sans and continued, “You swore on your Captain of the Royal Guard title and your soul that you would stay away from this place and never step on this property.”

“YOU TRICKED ME, YOU-!“

“If you swear,” Y/n said, raising her voice to speak over him, “to respect the boundaries of everyone here and to agree to forgive and forget the events of tonight, as the landlady of this property, I’d be willing to forget too and let you build your home here, on my property, next to the house.”

There was a collective gasp from everyone.

“why would you offer something like that kid?” Sans asked her in disbelief.

Y/n gratefully took the ice cube wrapped in a paper towel from Blueberry with thanks, who looked as equally shocked as everyone else, before turning to face Sans, “Would it be better to have him as our vengeful neighbour Sans?” She gestured at Black, “I don’t know how long you’ve known him, so please tell me that I wrong, but Black seems like the type to hold a grudge. Am I wrong?”

Judging by the look on his face, she knew she was, unfortunately, correct.

Sighing, she turned to face Black, “Rather than dwell on who was right or wrong, let’s both agree that doesn’t matter-“

“DOESN'T MATTER!?! OF COURSE IT-!“

“It doesn’t matter because we both have something the other wants now! You want to live here and I don’t want you seeking vengeance against me and my friends!” She yelled, her second wind leaving her as the full physical toll of today really started to kick in.

Tiring, she sat down on Papyrus’s hands, stumbling from exhaustion and the lack of hands as she continued to hold the ice cube to her sore wrist.

“ARE YOU OKAY Y/N?” Papyrus asked, raising her from his chest level to his concerned eye level.

She chuckled softly, noting the other skeletons moving in closer to look at her, concerned as well, “I’m okay guys. Long day and all that.” She looked away from her friends to stare at Black, who looked absolute baffled by what he was seeing, “Do we have a deal?”

Black looked at each skeleton, his eyes lighting up further in absolute confusion, before looking over his shoulder at Mutt, who had even raised an eyebrow in surprise by what he was seeing. Scowling, he turned to glare at her, "WHY DO I HAVE TO BUILD A HOUSE?! WHY DON'T I GET A ROOM HERE?!"

"Try, first come, first served." When she saw that answer wasn't to his liking, Y/n changes tact, "I look at it this way; you get to design your own, private bedroom. Make it as ‘grand’ as you want, because this house doesn’t really have a master bedroom you can ‘accommodate’. Old homes like this were designed so that the family could grow and expand across generations, which means that all the bedrooms here are basically the same size.”

Black rolled his eyes, “SO WE GET A HOUSE ON THE PROPERTY BUT ARE BANNED FROM ENTERING THIS HOUSE, HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER FROM BEING NEIGHBOURS?!”

Y/n sighed, running a hand through her hair, “If you stay out of people’s rooms and give me no reason to ban you, you’d be more than welcomed inside. You’d basically be roommates, only with your own house you get to design and build.” She looked around, “I’m sure we can hire contractors or something?”

“NO NEED Y/N!” Papyrus said brightly, “WE ALL HAVE AMAZING BUILDING SKILLS, REMEMBER?”

“Wha- oh yeah, my house.” She smiled fondly up at his beaming face.

“HOW DO I KNOW THAT YOU WON’T DOUBLE CROSS ME AGAIN?” Black scowled, irritated.

She indicated her head towards him, “You still have the deed, so that means you can still be our neighbours if you want.” She looked seriously at him, “But if you want to live here, be a part of what goes on here, you will be a decent roommate or you will be forcibly removed and I'll hold you to your word!” she looked at Mutt, “The same goes for you.”

Mutt smirked, but didn’t say anything.

Black, meanwhile, was thinking it over. He looked over all of her friends, around the house, before his eyes focused on her.

That’s when he grinned, his sharp teeth beaming in twisted delight.

“DEAL!”

Nodding, Y/n offered her good hand to him. He looked at, before smirking and folding his arms firmly.

Rolling her eyes, she dropped her hand and tried not to let her irritation show, “Okay then. Welcome to the house Black and …Mutt?” she looked at him, cocking an eyebrow in surprise when he shrugged, indifferent.

Black scoffed, “AT LEAST YOU HAVE THE DECENCY TO CALL ME BY MY PREFERRED NICK-NAME.”

“I will never call you Blackberry. Not because that’s what you want, but because you are nothing like Blueberry, my magnificent friend.” She glared at him, missing Blueberry’s blushing pride.

Black seemed taken aback, before he glared at her, “WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT, WON’T WE PET?”

She clenched her teeth, “The name's Y/n.”

He waved a dismissive hand at her as he moved towards the front door, “IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM BEING CALLED WHAT YOU ARE, THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM, NOT MINE.” He said, cocky, as Mutt followed him out.

Y/n and the rest of the skeletons walked outside to stand by the destroyed front door as the two skeletons climbed into their motorbike, Black taking the driver seat as Mutt slid into the side-car.

“Does that mean I should call you Brat then?” she asked, calling after him.

His grin fell, “TRY IT...PET.” He looked at Sans, “I’LL BE BACK TOMORROW MORNING TO DISCUSS JUST HOW GRAND AND IMPRESSIVE MY HOUSE WILL BE.” He looked up at their house, counting, “I’M THINKING AT LEAST FIVE-STORIES TALL.”

“LIKE HELL, YOU ENTITLED BRAT!” yelled Edge, his arms firmly folded.

Black kicked the engine to life, yelling over the roaring motor, “I COULDN’T HEAR YOU! TRY SAYING SOMETHING NOT PATHETIC AND WHINY NEXT TIME!”

Mutt mockingly saluted them from his sitting position, before Black started doing wheelies in the grass, tearing up the ground and splattering the nearby cars in dirt and mud, before tearing off down the driveway and out of sight, leaving everyone glaring at his retreating back.

“you have no idea what you’ve just invited in y/n.” Stretch sighed heavily.

Unfortunately, Y/n felt like she was getting a very clear picture of it now.

 

Next Chapter is called:…I don’t like you

**?!?Fanart?!?**

**Smarteaintsmart-** [Adorable Bitty Y/n Pics!](https://smarteaintsmart.tumblr.com/post/172884204018/i-did-some-quick-fanart-for-bitty-hunt-by)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the really late delay guys, but I've been super busy with several things happening at once =( My computer died, my Internship started, God of War stole my life and the new Avengers movie took my Saturday.
> 
> On that Internship thing, there is a good chance that I'll miss July's update. 6 weeks of full time, unpaid work while working nights is going to be rough...BUT, once it's done, I'm done with Uni!!  
> IF I miss the update, that happens and it sucks. BUT, after I'm done with Internship, I'll have nothing but free time! No promises, but just know that if I miss the July update, I, personally, will want to make up for it.  
> Anyway, sorry for the late realises =(
> 
> Also...
> 
> Hey, look at that! A short Bitty Hunt chapter! Who knew that I had it in me?
> 
> Okay, in all seriousness, when I thought about introducing the Swapfell bros, I had notes that basically summed up everything above as just ‘Y/n convinces the guys to let the bros build a house on the land, ‘welcoming’ them as new neighbours.’ Obviously, I have more notes than that…which is kind of scaring me right now because the notes are about 15 lines long and this chapter just covered 3 of them………esh.  
> Next chapter will be a full day, maybe even longer, but I swear not to realise that as a two-parters, no matter how long it is. Full disclosure, I both liked and hated splitting the beach chp into two parts, but I did it anyway for a few reasons. Seeing your reactions, however, quelled my belief that you guys would find the chapter dragging if it was twice as long as it normally is. Me personally, I like when chapters end where it ‘feels’ right and not just because the chapter is getting too long.
> 
> Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to write a full day in Bitty Hunt with 8 skeletons and a bitty =)


	14. ....I don't like you

After Black and Mutt had peeled off into the night, Y/n and the skeletons she actually liked were left to clean up the damaged created from the battle between Mutt and Black barricading their position and the guys trying to get in and reach Y/n.

Or rather, Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge were left to clean what they could.

Stretch and Red teleported off to look for more Monster Candy, both sceptical that anything was open at this hour, and Sans hurried inside to check that the machine and equipment in the basement hadn’t been tampered with, pulling out his phone as he did so.

Y/n, herself, sat against Papyrus’s ribcage, still cupped in his hand as he moved around the front yard and cleaned up the broken window glass shards and front door fragments with the other hand as Blueberry blocked the windows and Edge attempted to cover the front door with garbage bags. Obviously, he wasn’t happy with his work, because when Papyrus came back after taking the various bags filled with wood, drywall and glass fragments to the bin, Edge had further blocked the door with bones, glaring at his work from the outside.

“Won’t that get tiring, keeping your bones around like that till we can buy a new door?” Y/n asked, still cradling her arm.

Edge’s eyes briefly focused on her hand, before his eyes tightened and he turned back to the door, glaring at it. “NOT AT ALL!” he snapped.

But Papyrus shook his head, “THAT’S NOT TRUE; KEEPING OUR MAGIC AROUND LIKE THAT CAN GET REALLY EXHAUSTING! EDGE, YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T-“

“I’LL BE FINE!” he snapped, his shoulders hunched.

Papyrus sighed, before looking down at Y/n, his face conflicted. Before she could finger out what she was supposed to say, Papyrus raised his other hand and more bones appeared, further barricading the door.

With a start, Edge flinched and turned to look at Papyrus in surprise, who shrugged. “I WANT TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE TOO EDGE.”

“THAT’S NOT-!” started Edge, before even more bones appeared across the door.

Both skeletons turned and watched as Blueberry came running from around the house’s corner, his face still holding the same fierce expression he had when he had gone off to look after the windows himself, blue magic fading from his eyes.

He skidded to a halt before them as he said, “WINDOWS ARE DONE! AND IF THEY TRY TO SNEAK IN AGAIN, WE’LL HEAR THEM THIS TIME!”

“HOW DID THEY GET THROUGH ALL OUR PUZZLES IN THE FIRST PLACE?” Papyrus asked, his expression thoughtful and slightly distressed.

Edge growled, but before he could reply, Stretch and Red appeared in the front yard, both sullen.

“BROTHER!” cried Blueberry, rushing over to Stretch, “DID YOU FIND ANY STORES THAT WERE STILL OPEN?”

Stretch looked tightly at Bluberry’s face before his eyes flickered to Y/n in Papyrus hand, who, along with Edge, had come over with his own hopefully expression. His shook his head, sinking deeper into his hoodie.

“sorry, y/n.” he looked up, “we’ll try again first thing in the morning, i promise.”

Blueberry quickly hugged Stretch, who looked startled by the sudden embrace, before he wrapped his arms around his brother, the smallest of sad smiles on his face.

Red, meanwhile, took one look at Edge glaring at the door over his shoulder, his fits clenched by his side, before he growled and vanished from sight again.

“I’M GOING TO CHECK MY TRAPS!” Edge barked the moment after Red was gone, striding off into the dark.

Looking away from Edge’s disappearing back, she turned and looked up at Stretch, smiling softly, “S’okay Stretch. I’m sure it’s only sprained.” When no one looked happy about that, she chuckled awkwardly, “Guys, it’s okay, really. Remember, bitties heal quicker than humans. I’m sure I’ll be better within a couple of days, at most.”

When no one could give her anything than just the smallest of smiles, she looked away, “Let’s just go and have dinner already.”

The mood during preparing dinner was grim, with Blueberry and Stretch sitting in uncharacteristically stoic silence at the small kitchen table as Papyrus prepared spaghetti for a very late dinner. Without his normal energy, his spaghetti dish actually managed to stay within the pot, and Y/n found herself missing pulling chunks of tomato out of her hair. Sans appeared in the kitchen as the pasta boiled, dumping himself into the remaining chair with more distinctive bags under his eyes than what he had before Black and Mutt left. When Stretch quirked a quizzical eyebrow at him, he shrugged and they both returned to sitting in sullen silence. The mood was not lightened when Edge finally came in and rested against the kitchen’s doorway, scowling. He snapped at Blueberry when he asked about the traps and puzzles, pointedly ignoring Stretch glaring at him and the question about triggered or by-passed traps and puzzles.

Only Red’s appearance with a Monster Candy brightened the mood, even if he ignored the question of how he had managed to get it legally. However, when Y/n ate twice the amount she had gotten from Edge that first time and her wrist was only a bit better and still sore, discoloured and stiff to move, everyone’s mood was quickly damped again, setting the mood for dinner.

Now Y/n sat at the dining room table, watching everyone finishing dinner in a lacklustre mood, all but ensuring everyone was going to be heading to bed soon.

 _‘Well, I have a few questions I need to ask.’_ She thought, even if the idea of doing so struggled to form properly through her own exhaustion.

Taking a deep breath, she asked, "So, Black and Mutt?"

Everyone tensed up, keeping their eyes off her.

"Is 'Mutt' even his name, or is that an asshole thing that Black's doing to his brother? And what's with him calling Black 'M'lord'?"

Quickly, everyone looked to Red and Edge, who briefly shared a look before Red turned away, sinking into his jacket with a growl.

"IT'S WHAT THEY RESPOND TO." Edge said, speaking directly to Y/n, "AND IT'S WHAT THEY BOTH PREFER TO BE CALLED.”

"But it seems so much worse than Red calling you ‘boss’. That, at least, always struck me as some sort of a fun, sibling nickname.” she argued, “And I sure did see any indication of that with-"

"STOP!" Edge said, slamming his hand on the table. He glared at everyone as Red glowered at a nearby wall, “IT’S WHAT THEY PREFERRED TO BE CALLED!” he frowned at Y/n, “DON’T JUDGE THEM AND LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE!”

There was a stunned silence from everyone else.

"Okay then. Black and Mutt it is." She looked around the table, "Where did they even come from?"

Now everyone turned to look at Sans, who gave a long, deep sigh.

"from our old place. the place we were all living before coming here.”

“So you all were really living together after all.” She looked around the table, “Is there any particular reason why you were all living together in the first place? I mean, it doesn’t look like it was for financial reasons, if you don’t mind me saying so. Or, are you all actually related, in some way?”

Sans grinned, even if it was tight. “it- it was a rather sudden and entirely unexpected series of events that…forced us together. trust me, “ he gestured around the table, “it wasn’t ideal for anyone, but we all agreed to make the best of it.”

“BUT WE DID DECIDE FAIRLY QUICKLY THAT WE NEEDED A BIGGER PLACE TO LIVE IN.” Papyrus added, sitting a little straighter, “BLACK AND MUTT SAID THEY WANTED TO STAY AT OUR OLD PLACE WHEN WE DECIDED TO MOVE HERE, SO WE GAVE IT TO THEM. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THEY SUDDENLY CHANGED THEIR MINDS OR WHY THEY FELT THE NEED TO BREAK IN! THEY WERE ALWAYS WELCOMED HERE!”

Many of the skeletons looked like they would have disagreed with that.

“And the ‘freaks’?” she asked, noting how everyone suddenly looked away from her.

“another couple of brothers who were happier to have us gone and a place to themselves.” Sans said, tightly, not meeting her eye.

Y/n could tell there was more to that particular story, but everyone was tired and no one wanted a fight this late after a long and exhausting day.

Especially her, not after yesterday.

Yawing, she stretched her back, enjoying the crack up her spine as it released some of the pressure she had been building up since she got home, missing everyone else flinching at the sound. After stretching, she looked around the table, rubbing her stiff wrist, “Well, if we’re expecting them in the morning, then I guess we better get a good night sleep while we can.” She looked around, smiling tiredly, “Ignoring the wrist, the destroyed front door, numerous broken windows, smashed in walls, freshly tilled yard and a slight sunburn, I had fun today guys.”

“YOU GOT SUNBURNED TOO?!?” Blueberry cried out, thoroughly disheartened.

She walked over to his hand, patting him, “Easy Blue, I’m just joking and trying to lighten the mood! I swear, I have absolutely no hard feelings about any of this!” She looked around, “I’m sure it’s just the exhaustion and a slight ‘slap-happy’ I’ve got going on, but I’m just happy that we all got through all that in one piece.”

“black’s not what i call an ‘empty- threat’, but he’s not what i’d call dangerous either.” Sans admitted, before leaning back into his chair, gesturing to Edge, “in fact, i’d say he has a lot in common with edge, actually.”

Edge quickly raised to his feet, toppling over his chair as he slammed both hands onto the table in outrage, “HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THAT BRAT, YOU SLOTHFUL SCREWUP!”

Sans raised his hands, defensively, “easy edge, i only meant in the sense that you both can at least be reasoned with…even if you both have a tendency to fly into violent fits of rage.”

“HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF I COMPARED YOU TO THE ASHTRAY?!?” Edge screeched, gesturing to Stretch.

Sans and Stretch looked at each other, both checking the other one out before shrugging and looking back at Edge, indifferent. “s’not that big of a deal actually, edge.”

Stretch chuckled, “though, i must say i’d miss being able to reach for things on the top shelves and looking people in the eye.”

Red grinned playfully, “don’t worry about us shorties.” He winked at Y/n with a knowing smile, “we have plenty of other things we get to look at, if ya get what i mean.”

“LIKE WHAT?” asked Papyrus, genuinely curious even as Blueberry blushed and looked hurriedly away.

Snickering, Y/n gently patted Blueberry's hand as she looked around the table, “As amazing as this conversation is, I’m heading off to bed.”

“OH!” Blueberry looked down at her, his blush quickly fading, “WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CARRY YOU?”

She smiled, “I was hoping you’d offer.”

His blush returning, he quickly raised her to his shoulder after she hopped onto his hand, walking upstairs and followed closely by Papyrus. When he levelled his hand before her balcony, allowing her a chance to hop off, she turned and watched the pair watching her, their faces sadden as conflicting thoughts ran through both their heads.

“Everything okay guys?” she asked, somewhat concerned.

Papyrus quickly looked over at Blueberry, who was now glaring at his door, his head turned away. Sighing, Papyrus said, turning back to face her, “Y/N….WE-WE’RE SO SORRY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED WITH BLACK AND MUTT. WE’RE SORRY THAT YOU GOT HURT AND I’M SORRY THAT I FAILED AS A FRIEND AND DIDN’T HAVE-“

“Hey!”

He stopped in mid-ramble, his eyes quivering. She gestured for him to get closer.

When he slowly lowered his head before her, still looking sad and confused, she gently placed a hand to his cheek, staring into his wide sockets. “Papyrus, you and everybody else, have nothing to apologise for! It was an accident and not your fault at all.”

“I- WE DON’T KNOW HOW THEY GOT PAST ALL OUR DEFEN-!”

“That doesn’t matter!” she called out firmly, silencing him.

She looked over to see Blueberry still glaring his door, but obviously listening in. Sighing, she returned her attention back to Papyrus, noting in surprise when she saw what looked like the top of Edge’s skull, peeking up from the staircase behind him.

Smiling, she raised her voice slightly so that everyone could hear her, “You're not responsible for my safety, nor did I ask you guys to defend me like you did. “ she smiled tiredly, caressing Papyrus’s cheek, “but it’s sweet that you care enough about me to actually be concerned like this.”

“OF COURSE WE CARE!” Papyrus cried out, blushing slightly, “WE CARE VERY MUCH ABOUT YOU Y/N!”

Y/n removed her hand, looking away with a shy smile, “I-I care about you guys too.”

“DID YOU AT LEAST HAVE FUN TODAY?” asked Blueberry, as Papyrus moved reluctantly back, turning to look at her and not quite meeting her eyes.

“You mean, before Black and Mutt?” she asked, cheekily, rubbing her eyes.

Blueberry’s fits clenched at his side and she quickly said, “Of course I had fun! It’s been forever since I last went outside, and not only was I not as scared as I expected to be, it was really nice to hang out with all of you.” she smiled, “I-I guess we’ll have to try that again…eventually.”

The idea of leaving the house still scared her, still felt profoundly wrong, regardless of how calm she had felt all day today at the beach. Did she have fun? Did she really enjoy herself? Y/n struggled to properly answer that. When she compared today to how she had felt playing Sneak on an adventure with Sir Brave and Sir Proud, it was undeniable the joy she had felt then and which one she had more fun doing.

When she had been at the beach…calm and passive were the only things she had really felt consistently. Did that mean she had fun? Was that the best she could feel outside? Was she that scared?

Regardless of whether or not what she said was entirely true, her saying that appeared to lift both their moods as they quickly threw each other wild grins.

Still very tired, Y/n yawned again, “Okay, I’m officially done for tonight.” She turned to her door, looking over he shoulder, “Goodnight Papyrus, goodnight Blueberry.”

“GOODNIGHT Y/N!” Papyrus waved after her, still filled with boundless energy.

Blueberry moved closer, peering into her house as he watched her close her front door and head towards her stairs, “GOODNIGHT Y/N.”

She stopped at the front door’s window, smiling widely even as she yawned yet again, “Seriously Blue, I’m perfectly fine. Try to get some sleep and maybe dream about it what it would have been like if we won that volleyball competition?”

He brightened, stepping back as he raised his fits into a fighting stance, “WHY DREAM IT WHEN WE’RE GOING TO WIN NEXT TIME?! MWEH HEH HEH!”

She smiled affectionately at him, glad to see his spirits finally lifting. “That’s the spirit.” She called out, giving him a last thumb’s up, to his delight.

She closed the curtains and made her way upstairs, closing her bedroom door behind her. Looking out her bedroom window, she watched as Papyrus’s and Blueberry’s doors closed shut behind them, clicking into place after baying each other a good night. Smiling, she looked at her bed and collapsed onto it, still in her beach-stained clothes and struggling to pull the sheets from out under and over her exhausted body.

When she heard the stairs creak, with what sounded like someone trying their hardest to be quiet, she cracked opened her eyes and watched as Edge attempted to sneak past her house.

Grinning, she called out, “Sweet dreams Edge!”

He flinched and spun around on the spot, “SW-SWEET DREAMS Y/N!” he blurted out, before what he had just said registered with his mind. When it did, his blush exploded across his face and he stormed into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Still chuckling, Y/n quickly drifted into a deep sleep, mumbling in her dream and unaware when Sans, Stretch and Red finally came upstairs themselves, each whispering goodnight to her and smiling softly when she mumbled it back to them.

~*~

Y/n woke up suddenly to the feeling of being cocooned in material that was surrounded in a purple glow, suspended and swinging from a stable point somewhere above her. Her instinctual panic and the swinging motion jarred her stiff and sore wrist, and she screamed in surprised alarm and pain.

“QUITE PET! YOU’LL WAKE THE OTHERS!”

There was a sigh close by before the sound of multiple doors slamming open rang out around the landing.

**“lET y/N gO!!”**

Y/n couldn’t tell who hadn’t yelled that shared sentiment. All she knew was that suddenly she was somewhere surrounded by her friends yelling different things as, whoever had her, spun around in quick, defensive turns.

“WILL YOU IDIOTS SETTLE DOWN!” screeched Black’s voice above her, drowning out her friends, “I JUST WANTED TO TALK TO HER BEFORE YOU IDIOTS TRIED TO GET IN THE WAY AGAIN!”

“Get me out of here!!” she screamed, struggling to escape as whatever had her thrashed around violently with her kicking and failing about.

“give her to me black, right now.”

She hadn’t heard Sans use that tone since Sara tried interrupting Papyrus on the very first day she saw the skeletons.

It- it actually made her scared of him; a double take on her impression and what she thought she knew about Sans.

There was a moment of hesitation, before she was dumped onto a hard surface and the cocooning material collapsed around her. Angrily, she pushed the material off her head and took in her surroundings, angrily rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

She sat on Sans’s open hand, surrounded by all her friends in their sleeping gear, while Black and Mutt standing back in the same sort of clothes they had worn the night before, her blanket under her and the material in question that he had been used to capture her. The morning sunlight was barely streaming in through the outside windows and none of her friends looked happy to be woken up like this, not if the looks they threw her and the guilty brothers was anything to go on.

She tried not to stare at Papyrus’s and Blueberry’s different patterned onesies (she especially tried not ‘awwing’ again, not after the first sleepover where neither of them had appreciated that reaction from her), and it was distracting to remember that apparently both Sans and Stretch only slept in their boxes. It was interesting, but not surprising to see that Edge actually slept in black satin pyjamas, but the biggest surprise, however, belonged to Red, who was in a robe haphazardly slapped on.

_‘Since when did Red become a ‘robe’ kind of guy? When I was drawing on his face, wasn’t he shirtless, just like Sans and Stretch?’_

Shaking herself out pointless speculation, she turned to glare at Black, folding her arms. “You call this respecting boundaries?! Kidnapping me from my bed at dawn?!”

Black shrugged, leaning back, “I WAS JUST TRYING TO TALK TO YOU PRIVATELY BEFORE THE OTHERS COULD INTERFERE AGAIN.”

“And you thought kidnapping me was the way to do it?!”

“I FIGURED YOU WOULD HAVE AGREED IF YOU HADN’T BEEN SO LAZILY NAPPING!”

Y/n held up a finger, “Strick one asshole! Entering my house and kidnapping me is not respecting boundaries!! I get up to strike three and the deal is off!”

“BUT I DIDN’T ENTER YOU PATHETIC CAGE!”

“Wanna make that strike two?!”

Black growled, glaring at her, “HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW YOU WEREN’T INTERESTED IN TALKING IF YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE YOUR WINDOW AND BLINDS OPEN LIKE THAT! EVERY MONSTER KNOWS THAT AN UNLOCKED DOOR MEANS GUESTS ARE WELCOMED!!”

“YOU LEFT YOUR WINDOW OPEN?!?” cried Edge, scowling down at her. “WHY DIDN’T YOU CLOSE YOUR WINDOW?!?”

Irritated to have Edge acting like she was a fault, she glared up into his scowling face, “I was tired Edge! I sure wasn’t expecting to be kidnapped hours later! Humans don’t just wander into people’s home because a stupid door or window is unlocked!”

“ENOUGH!” Papyrus cried out and over ridding Edge’s response, moving between Y/n on Sans’s hand and Edge still scowling at her, “IT DOESN’T MATTER IF Y/N HAD LEFT HER DOORS AND WINDOWS OPEN WIDE IN INVITATION-“

“That’s not how it's supposed to work-!”

“-, BECAUSE THE FRONT DOOR TO THIS HOUSE WAS MOST CERTAINLY LOCKED!”

Black scoffed, “YOU CALL A FEW WEAK BONES AND GARBAGE BAGS ‘LOCKED’?”

With Blueberry and Edge glaring daggers at Black on either side of him, Papyrus continued to smile good-naturedly, “BLACK, WE HAVEN’T HAD TIME TO GET A NEW DOOR, AND YOU KNOW THAT!” He lowered himself closer to Black, waggling a finger, “REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT WAS A PROPER OR DOOR OR NOT, IT WAS OBVIOUSLY A LOCKED ONE. COMING INTO A LOCKED HOUSE IS JUST RUDE MANNERS, SO, I WOULD SAY THE FIRST STRIKE IS VERY WELL DESERVED, FELLOW HOUSEMATE.” Papyrus continued to smile as his tone sharpened, “WOULDN’T YOU AGREE, BLACK, OR WOULD YOU RATHER BE BELIEVED TO BE RUDE?”

There was a collective gasp from Blueberry, Edge and Black, who looked flabbergastered at Papyrus’s candid response. Even Stretch and Red did a double take.

Sans, however, merely grinned, smiling fondly up at his brother, “that’s my bro.”

Papyrus stood back, posing “NYEH HEH HE! SO UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CONSIDERED A RUDE AND RATHER POOR MANNERED MON-“

“ENOUGH ALREADY!” Black was seething, a light, furious purple blush across his cheeks as he stamped his foot in irritation, “YOU’VE MADE YOUR NON-SUBTLE POINT!”

“ARE YOU GOING TO APOLOGISE TO ALL OF US FOR BREAKING INTO OUR HOME THEN?”

Black glared at the whole look of them, noting both the unity and smugness of the rest of the household united against him.

Growling, he turned and stormed downstairs, Mutt soon following.

“well,” started Stretch, rubbing the back of his neck, “i would say this is a wonderful start to the rest of our lives as housemates.”

~*~

After the guys checked to make sure Y/n was okay and she reassured them that she and her wrist were, she was returned to her house to prepare for what was to be sure a long day.

First thing she did was angrily slam her window shut and locked every window in her house, drawing all the blinds. Next, she hurled her bedsheets onto her bed, feeling irritated at the manner she had been so rudely woken up.

Still, her morning shower helped alleviate some of her irritation, and freshly cleaned and wearing her best clothes helped her feel more prepared for the day. When she came out onto her balcony, her trusted backpack packed and ready for the day on her back, she was surprised to see no one waiting for her.

 _‘Guess I’ve gotten too used to being carried everywhere.’_ she thought, with a shrug, heading back inside.

Making her way up to her second floor, Y/n pushed past the vent affixed as a feature of her house’s top floor's wall and slide down to the lower levels. Her second surprise came when she saw all the skeletons in the dining room and dressed for the day, Papyrus writing what appeared to be a list of things as the others offered suggestions, while Black sat at one end of the cramped table with Mutt behind him, leaning against the nearby wall. Black had his own sheet of paper in front of him, and if his folded arms and bored expression were anything to go on, he was disinterested in getting involved in the discussion happening at the other end of the table.

“No morning run today guys?” Y/n asked, sitting in the dining room vent with her feet dangling out.

All eye lights turned and focused on her, but Black was the only one to look away with a huff.

Papyrus grinned up at her, his hand frozen over the list he had been adding to, “GOOD MORNING Y/N! IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU LOOKING HAPPIER THIS MORNING!”

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re rudely woken up.” She replied glaring at Black’s stubborn posture.

“AGREED!” nodded Papyrus sagely, before gesturing to everyone around him, “ALL THIS MORNING’S EXCITEMENT, (NOT TO MENTION ALL THE REPAIRS WE HAVE TO DO) HAS SOMEWHAT RUINED ANY REALISTIC CHANCES THAT WE PARTICIPATE IN THE VITALLY IMPORTANT MAINTENANCE OF OUR FLAWLESS VISAGE THROUGH STRENUOUS EXERCISE! DON’T WORRY; WE’LL GET BACK INTO IT TOMORROW MORNING, IF YOU CARE TO JOIN US!”

“IN THE MEANTIME,” started Edge, pushing himself up from the table and walking towards her vent, “YOU AND I STILL HAVE A BREAKFAST TO COOK.” Once Y/n jumped onto his hand and he lifted her to his shoulder, he turned and glared down at Black, who was staring in shocked surprise at Y/n, “AND I REFUSE TO COOK FOR THESE HOUSEBREAKERS!”

“LIKE I WOULD EVEN WANT TO EAT THE DISGUSTING CRAP YOU INSULTINGLY CALL FOOD!” spat Black, looking away with a growl.

Knowing that this conversation wasn’t heading anywhere good, Y/n quickly patted the side of Edge’s skull, interrupting his retort, “Hey, how about instead of just throwing insults all morning, we just get started on breakfast?”

The hand that Edge had raised midway to point at Black hung for a moment before it dropped to his side.  After a quick look at her, where Y/n cocked her towards the kitchen with a soft, pleading smile, Edge turned his back sharply to Black’s expectant expression, his tattered scarf fluttering behind him.

“WH-WHAT?” spluttered Black behind them.

Neither Edge nor Y/n looked back.

Once in the kitchen, Edge made quick work of fetching the things he normally gathered to make bacon and eggs. The only thing that slowed him down was when Black came striding in.

“GET OUT OF HERE, YOU BRAT!!” screeched Edge, whirling to face him, his grip on the bacon package threating to shred the plastic.

Black smirked cockily, moving to sit at the kitchen table and throwing his legs up and onto it as Y/n slowly stood up on Edge’s shoulder, expecting trouble. “NO, I DON’T THINK I WILL, EDGE LORD!”

He threw his head back, cackling.

Acting on impulse, Y/n grabbed Edge’s nearest protruding cheekbone and, ignoring the pain in her wrist, used it to swing herself into his face, startling Edge backwards as he started to make his way over to Black.

“Don’t!” she cried, her other hand grabbing the other cheekbone, leaving her staring directly into his shocked, magically inflamed eyes, “he’s not worth it!”

Edge gapped at her, “WH-WHAT A-ARE Y-YOU-!”

She brought her forehead to his, “Not. Worth. It.” she said, slowly and clearly.

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING NOT WORTH IT!” cried out Black behind them, indigent.

She ignored him, her eyes never leaving Edge’s.

It took a moment, but eventually, Edge closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. When he opened them, the aggressive magic was gone from them.

“Better?” she asked.

He nodded, and soon, Y/n could feel his hand approaching under her, waiting for her to drop on to it. Once she did, he smoothly returned her to his shoulder, who then turned his back to Black, and resumed cooking.

“HEY, I DEMAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT! I WILL NOT LET A MERE PET CALL ME ‘NOT WORTH IT’!!”

Edge took another long deep breath, but kept his eyes on his task with Y/n gently patting his shoulder as he worked.

“SO, THIS IS HOW FAR YOU’VE SUNK SINCE I LAST SAW YOU EDGE?? GETTING BOSSED AROUND BY YOUR OWN PET?? PATHETIC!”

They ignored him, with Y/n choosing instead to remind Edge to put a bit more butter on the pan.

After a moment, Black scoffed behind them. “FINE THEN, IGNORE ME! I’M SURE THE EDGE LORD NEEDS ALL THE CONCENTRATION HE CAN GET TO KEEP THE FOOD FROM TURNING INTO AN INEDIBLE MESS!”

Edge’s grip on the frying pan tightened.

Black laughed cruelly, “IT’S A GOOD THING I MADE SURE I FEED MY BROTHER AND MYSELF THIS MORNING! OTHERWISE, MY BROTHER WOULD HAVE TO SHARE THE SAME ‘DEATH BY FOOD POISONING’ FATE THAT WAITS FOR THAT DISGUSTING PERVERT YOU CALL A BROTHER!!”

“Hey, here’s a thought, have you thought about just leaving?!” Y/n asked, snapping at last as she turned to face him.

Both Black and Edge were shocked by her outburst, but Edge recovered first, returning to his task and chuckling quietly to himself, murmuring under his breath about hypocrisy and double standards.

Y/n ignored that in favour of glaring at Black, who eventually glared back.

“OH, DOES THE LYING PET HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY TO ME?!”

“Yeah, I have something to say; you can say all the shit you want about me, but you better leave Edge, his brother, and everyone else alone!”

“WHY WOULD YOU CARE?!?” Black cried out, kicking his feet off the table and waving his arm towards Edge’s stiff back, “DON’T TELL ME YOU ACTUALLY LIKE THE PRESUMPTUOUS EDGE LORD?!?”

“Of course I do!”

It seemed the whole house fell into a stunned silence, and she was sure the skeletons in the dining room were definitely listening in by now.

Y/n straightened her shoulders, looking down at Black. “I consider Edge to be one of the most loyal friends I have ever had, and I’m proud to call him that…even if we had a rather rough start to our friendship, what with him being a bit green with envy over my shooting skills.“ She smirked playfully at Edge’s stunned expression, “A truly worthy opponent he turned out to be in the end, and I’m happy to call him my friend.”

“H-HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE???” spluttered Black, his mouth hanging agape! “N-NO ONE LIKES HIM!” Black rattled off each argument on his fingers, “HE DOES NOTHING BUT YELL AT PEOPLE! HE NEVER SAYS ANYTHING NICE ABOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE! HE’S EGOTISTICAL TO THE POINT OF NARCISSISM!” Black stood up and strolled over to Y/n and Edge, yelling up at her as Edge finally turned around, “HE’S NOTHING BUT A CAPRICIOUSLY, MALEVOLENT CONTROL FREAK WITH DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THERE EVEN TO LIKE??!!!”

“Are you describing him, or yourself there?” she asked, folding her arms and glaring at him.

Words failed Black, and both he and Edge could do nothing but stare at her.

Smelling smoke, she looked over her shoulder and quickly tapped Edge on his, “Bacon’s burning.”

After flinching, Edge muttered a hurried curse as he turned swiftly around, quickly flipping the bacon as Y/n saved herself from tumbling off his shoulder by clinging to the front of his shirt. By the time she was stable enough to pull herself back up, she watched Black over Edge’s shoulder, his eyes searching hers.

Soon afterwards, he dropped his eyes and quickly strolled out of the kitchen, hissing to himself “WHAT A PILE OF LIES!” as he left.

Y/n watched him go.

~*~

After breakfast was cooked and Blueberry and Papyrus came in to gather enough things to set the table, Y/n sat on Edge’s shoulder as he brought the last of the eggs and bacon out.

“BREAKFAST LOOKS GREAT TODAY!” Papyrus said cheerfully, finishing pouring a glass of juice for Y/n and placing it at her table.

Edge merely grunted, even as he kept a keen watch on her as she leapt for the table and made her way over to her spot. Surprisingly, Blueberry sat directly behind her today, but after looking at where he normally sat, it quickly made sense. Black had claimed the other end of the table as his place at the table, with Mutt sitting by his side and in Blueberry’s usual spot, leaning back heavily on the chair.

“Guess I need to buy in a bigger table.” She said aloud, thoughtfully. She looked over at Black and Mutt, “Would you guys like this table and chairs for your place, or would you rather get something new?”

Mutt shrugged, pulling out a dog treat as Black scoffed, “WE DO NOT NEED YOUR DISGUSTING HAND-ME-DOWNS!”

“Fine then! Geez, I was just trying to be nice!”

“NICE?”

She ignored him, and instead looked around the table. “Did anything arrive in the mail today?” she asked, hopeful that her new clothes had finally come in.

Blueberry shook his head as he finished serving her a small portion of eggs and bacon on her plate, “I DIDN’T HEAR THE BELL RING; I EVEN CHECKED THIS MORNING TO MAKE SURE IT WAS STILL WORKING!”

“YOU EVEN FEED IT.” Black whispered to himself, down at the other end of the table, his eyes flickering between Y/n and Blueberry.

Y/n ignored him, but couldn’t ignore the purple smoke wafting out of the corner of her eye.

Turning around, she watched as Mutt took a big drag on the lit dog treat, holding it in before he let it escape his sockets, creating both a bizarre and sightly image.

“There’s no smoking in the house.” She said, waving the air in front of her to clear it, “if you want to smoke, you’re going to have to go outside.” She wasn't even going to ask why he was smoking something that looked like a dog treat or why the smoke was purple.

Chalk that up to ‘magic’ and move on.

Mutt looked at her, cocking an eyebrow in surprise in her direction, before turning around and looking at Black. Following Mutt’s eyes, she saw that Black had been still staring at her, his expression thoughtful. When he saw Mutt and Y/n both looking at him, he smirked, bowed his head slightly and made a sweeping gesture.

Smirking as well, Mutt stood up and walked over to the basically destroyed widow of the dining room. Looking over his shoulder at Y/n, hands in his jacket's pockets and lit dog treat between his teeth, he purposefully kicked out the rest of the window, getting rid of Blueberry’s bones and the garbage bags he had used to keep the wind out.

“HEY!” yelled Blueberry, standing up, “THAT WAS EXTREMELY RUDE!! WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST GO AROUND??”

Shrugging, Mutt continued to clear the bottom of the frame, before sitting down on it and facing the outside world, taking a long draft on his dog treat as he settled.

Black threw his head back, laughing, “MWEH HEH HEH! GOOD BOY! WE WOULDN’T WANT TO INCUR ANOTHER STRIKE NOW, WOULD WE?”

Y/n stood up, and marched over to Black, “Okay, that’s enough! If you and your bother are going to purposefully twists and bend every little thing like this, then what’s the difference between that and having you as shitty neighbours??!”

Black placed a hand to his chest, “I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU-“

“Cut the shit! you know exactly-!”

Seeing the smug look curling Black’s smile, Y/n stopped herself in mid-rant and took a moment to close her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she held up her hands, over this shit. “You know what? I’m done. I’m just done.”

She turned around and walked back to her table, sitting down and resumed eating, purposefully avoiding looking around the table.

“you okay kid?” asked Sans, looking over at her in concern.

She smiled as she looked up at him, cutting her bacon into pieces. “Never better!”

“you sure? if this isn’t working, you don’t have to let black and mutt stay here. i can always-“

“So, what’s the plan today?” she asked, not willing to hear the end of that particular sentence.

Black scoffed at his end, “THE PET WOULD NEVER GO BACK ON HER WORD; SHE’S MUCH TOO PROUD TO DO THAT!” He shrugged, “BESIDES, MY BROTHER WAS DOING YOU ALL A FAVOUR ANYWAY; THAT ENTIRE WINDOW NEEDED REPLACING BECAUSE SOME MONSTERS CAN'T AIM!”

Something about the way he said that made Y/n think he was…testing the waters about her conviction? Like he was trying to engage just how trustworthy she and her word was?

As Sans sighed, Papyrus spoke up, “WELL, WE’VE GOT THE LIST OF EVERYTHING WE’RE GOING TO NEED TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE-

“I’ll pay for everything on that list.” She quickly said, swallowing her mouthful.

“DON’T BE RIDICULOUS Y/N!” Blueberry huffed, finishing his drink, “WE’RE THE ONES WHO CAUSED THE DAMAGE WITH OUR MAGIC-“

“Only because you were trying to save me.” She quickly raised her hand, stopping his rebuttal, “Look, am I right in thinking that you guys plan to do all the repairs yourself?”

They all nodded, with the exception of Black, who was watching the conversation with interest and Mutt, who was still smoking outside, indifferent.

“Well, I can’t exactly help with the repairs, and I’m guessing hiring a handyman would just be a waste of money, so, as your landlady, I insist that I be allowed to pay for the materials you guys need to repair the house.” She toyed with an egg fragment on her plate as she mumbled, “it’s only fair after all.” She eyed Black, “or _someone_ can acknowledge the key role they played in causing all the damages and offer to pay instead?”

“I BELIEVE THAT _SOMEONE_ JUST DID.” Black leaned forward, “OR IS _SOMEONE_ FORGETTING HOW QUICKLY THEIR BETRAYAL LEAD TO THEIR VICTIMS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM UNJUSTIFIED REVENGE?”

Rolling her eyes, she looked around the table, “So, I’m paying for that list. End of discussion.”

“if you say so, funsize.” Stretch said, shrugging and finishing the last of his coffee.

Red looked over at Sans obviously conflicted face, before chuckling, “forget sans. once she’s made up her mind, you ain’t going to change it.” He smiled fondly over at her, “right babydoll?”

“Too right, biker chick.” She grinned back, remember everything she had gone through with him, especially the flirting competition. 

As Red chuckled, Sans sighed, pushing himself up as he gathered his dishes, “well, i guess we better go out and get what we need already.” He looked over at Papyrus, “that list ready to go bro?”

“READY, BROTHER!” Papyrus said happily, pulling out the sheet of paper from within his clothes as he stood, his arms already filled with things to put away. “MAKE SURE YOU GET EVERYTHING ON IT; WE CAN’T FIX EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE WITHOUT SOME OF THOSE THINGS!”

“MUTT’S GOING WITH YOU!” Black insisted, waving his own sheet of paper towards Mutt’s direction as his brother finished off his smoke and made his way back inside. “AND MAKE SURE THESE FOOLS HELP YOU CARRY ALL THIS STUFF WE NEED FOR OUR OWN HOUSE! IT’S THE LEAST THEY CAN DO.”

“RED!” Edge cried out, glaring at Black as he continued to speak to his brother, “YOU ARE EXPRESSIVELY FORBIDDEN TO CARRY ANYTHING FOR THIS BRAT AND HIS DOG!”

“don’t worry boss.” Red growled, eyeing Mutt, “i sure as shit wasn’t going to.”

Mutt briefly smirked as he pulled at his collar, “woof, woof, red.”

“hey stretch?” Sans asked, looking between Red glaring at an indifferent Mutt, and Edge and Black glaring at each other, “wanna stay behind and make sure there’s a house still here when we come back?”

Stretch sighed, rubbing his head, “if you really think that’s going to work.”

“Actually Sans? Can you stay behind instead?” Y/n asked, standing up and moving towards him, looking hopeful. She was hoping he could answer a few questions she had on Black.

Sans looked over at her in surprise, but eventually smiled and nodded, “sure kid. don’t have to ask me twice to not go out shopping.” He looked over at Stretch, indicating towards Red and Mutt, “wanna switch instead and make sure those two don’t cause a human-monster incident?”

Stretch chuckled, “sure, you get to stay here and ‘take it easy’ with black and edge.” They both shared a quiet chuckle, before Stretch looked over at Blueberry, who was looking  between Edge and Black. He leaned in towards Sans and lowered his voice, “keep an eye out for my bro, sans.”

“you didn’t even need to ask.” Sans smiled gently up at Stretch, “i know you’d do the same for mine.”

“i’m not worried about him getting hurt. he can take care of himself.”

When Sans raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, Stretch indicated his head towards Y/n, causing Sans eyes to light up in understanding, before he nodded.

Before she could ask what that was all about, Papyrus came out from the kitchen, his arms now free, “Y/N! WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME WITH ME TO HELP WASH THE DISHES? I’M STILL HAVING TROUBLE CLEANING YOUR CUP TO THE STANDARD OF ACCEPTABLE CLEANNESS.”

“Um, sure, I guess?” She said, as she walked over towards him.

When he offered his hand, Y/n took a quick look back at Sans checking his phone while Stretch spoke quietly to Blueberry, his hand on his shoulder. It ended with Blueberry throwing his arms around Stretch, hugging him as Stretch patted Blueberry’s back and he looked fondly down at the top of Blueberry’s skull. Red was still glaring at Mutt, who honestly looked like he couldn’t care less while Black’s eyes remained glued on her. She could hear what sounded like Edge savagely scrubbing dishes coming for the kitchen as Papyrus moved her closer to it.

 _‘We’re in for a really, really long day.’_ She thought, with a sigh

~*~

When Blueberry entered to help with washing the dishes, the cleaning progress reached its maximum speed, but was still somewhat slowed down when Black peered in from around the corner, starting at Y/n. He ignored all of Papyrus attempts to engage him in conversation and was indifferent to being blatantly ignored by both Blueberry and Edge, who remained focused on clean and talking loudly to each other about just how awful rude house guests were. When their brother came in to help dry the dishes, Black continued to ignore and was ignored by the whole lot of them.

Ignoring the eyes Y/n could feel burning into her, the conversation as all the brothers helped cleaned almost felt and sounded like it normally did, but it was most defiantly not normal.

Not by a long shot.

Now she sat on Papyrus’s shoulder outside, watching Stretch, Red and Mutt preparing to leave, their brothers giving them their final marching orders.

“Stretch, Red? If you guys could keep an eye open for a bigger table while you’re out and about, it would really mean a lot to me.” she asked, thinking it wouldn't hurt if they came back with prices at least.

Stretch smiled as Red grinned, “sure thing babydoll. you can count on us.”

“I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT.” scoffed Edge.

Ignoring their conversation, Black nodded to Mutt, “YOU HAVE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS.”

Mutt indicated his head towards Black, before his eyes flickered to Y/n, a small smile curling his mouth before he vanished from sight.

Red cursed, but before he could leave, Edge had moved forward and grabbed his arm.

“YOU-YOU-“ Edge looked away, dropping his arm. “I HAD BETTER NOT FIND OUT YOU CARRIED ANY OF THEIR CRAP, UNDERSTAND?”

Red’s eyes shot up in surprise, before he smiled fondly at Edge. “sure thing boss.”

Edge nodded, before scowling, “WELL?? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?”

Red grinned, waved goodbye at Y/n and vanished from sight with a final smirk.

Stretch sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “and so it begins.”

“J-JUST MAKE SURE TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF TOO, BROTHER.” Blueberry said quietly, toying with his gloved hands as he kept looking over at Black, who was smirking at him. Seeing Black smirking at him, Blueberry dropped his hands and threw his shoulders back and tried appearing taller and more confident.

Or at least, Y/n was sure that was the goal, before Stretch leaned closer to his brother and hugged him anyway, which Blueberry, at first hesitantly but then swiftly, returned.

"LOOK AT THE BABY GETTING HIS HUG FROM HIS BIGGER, MORE IMPRESSIVE YOUNGER BROTHER!" Black called out, pointing with a laugh.

"nothing wrong with getting a hug from our most favourite younger brothers in the whole world." Sans turned to Papyrus, his arms open wide, "can i have a hug, bestest brother?"

"OF COURSE YOU CAN!" Y/n bearly had time to cling to Papyrus's shirt before he had picked Sans and was twirling him in small circles, hugging him tightly. Y/n was trapped between Papyrus beaming skull and Sans's grinning eye, mere inches away. Quickly, she started laughing, entirely caught up in the moment, even as she had to hold on for dear life.

By the time Papyrus set Sans back on the ground, she was slightly crossed eye when she looked over at Stretch smiling at them as he draped himself over the equally smiling Blueberry.

For some reason, Edge and Black were looking away, looking stiff and uncomfortable.

“whelp, i guess i better head off.” Stretch stood after ruffing Blueberry’s not existent hair, before turning to smile at Black, “want a hug too black?”

“AS IF I’D EVER WANT A HUG FROM YOU, FILTHY ASHTRAY!!” screeched Black, folding his arms and scowling at him.

“then why are you looking at us so jealously?”

“I AM NOT JEALOUS!!”

While Black was stamping his foot in irritation, Stretch gently knocked against Blueberry’s side, indicating his head towards the tamper-throwing skeleton when Blueberry looked at him, cocking an eyebrow as Stretch smirked with a knowing smile.

Blueberry's eyes shot up in shocked understanding.

Still grinning, Stretch managed to wink over at Edge before vanishing from sight.

“YOUR BROTHER IS JUST THE WORST!” cried Edge, still scowling at the spot Stretch had just disappeared from.

“YOU’RE WRONG.” Blueberry said, looking over at where Stretch had been standing too, “MY BROTHER IS THE VERY BEST.”

Smiling softly, Sans wandered over to Blueberry with his hands in his jacket, knocking into his other side, “never thought i would hear myself saying this, but how about we get started on the house?”

Papyrus gasped, “SANS! YOU’RE RIGHT; THAT IS SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER HEAR YOU SAY!”

While Sans was still turning around to face Papyrus running towards him, Y/n was once again clinging to his shirt to keep from falling off.

Papyrus swiftly picked up Sans, only this time, he was closely inspecting every inch of his brother. “WHO ARE YOU?? ARE YOU ANOTHER VERSION OF MY BROTHER?? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SANS I KNOW AND SOMETIMES WISH I DIDN’T!?”

Sans gently placed both hands on Papyrus’s, patting him, “bro, it’s me. promise.”

“PROVE IT! SAY SOMETHING ONLY MY SANS WOULD!”

Judging by the look that came across Sans’s face, Y/n could tell already that Papyrus really, really should have phrased the question differently.

“papyrus, my _verte_ bruh, you have a very _marrow_ mind if you think i’m not your _bone_ head of a brother. i always have a _skele_ ton of puns that are sure to rattle your _bones_. let me tell ya, i felt like i had a _femur_ dream working on these. worked right to the _carpals_ , and that isn't a _fibula_. what with that look _verte_ bruh? don't you think these puns are _humerus_? come on, quit _skull_ ing. nah, don’t worry, i’m just _ribbing_ ya.”

Papyrus dropped Sans, his eyes having long boggled out of his skull as a permanent look of disappointing anger settled across his face. Without a backwards look, Papyrus walked away.

“aw, come on _vert_ bruh, i sure hope i didn’t cross any _bone_ daries there”

Papyrus turned around, “JUST STOP ALREADY!”

“AGREED!” Huffed Blueberry as Edge and Black nodded their agreement in the distance.

Sans looked around the area, shrugging with his hands, “come on guys, what’s with the _sternum_ looks?” he gestured to Papyrus, “how else was i going to prove it was really me?”

“BY TELLING ME SOMETHING ONLY MY SANS WOULD KNOW!” Papyrus cried out, waving his hands, “A SHARED MEMORY OR MY FAVOURITE PUZZLE, OR-!”

“a barge of skeleton puns?” Sans added in, cheekily.

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at him.

After a while, Sans shrugged, looking coyly over at him, “so, did i pass the test?”

“WITH HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PUNS!” Papyrus pointed to his mud-splattered car, “AND YOUR PRIZE IS THAT YOU GET TO CLEAN MY CAR!”

“yes sir.” Sans said, his head dropping, even if Y/n could see him smirking as he turned and walked away to gather cleaning supplies.

“Hey Papyrus, do you mind if I go with him?” Y/n asked, tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

“AN EXCELLENT IDEA!” Papyrus held his hand out to her and he quickly caught up with his brother, “YOU CAN MAKE SURE HE DOES A DECENT JOB WHILE THE REST OF US GET TO WORK!”

When she was transported to the still subtly smug Sans, she looked back to see Blueberry and Edge already hard at work trying to flatten the ground and fix the garden after last nights attack toiled up large sections of both grass and flower beds. Black was looking around, unsure what to do with himself.

That was, until he looked over and saw Y/n watching him for a change. Then he marched off in the opposite direction of the relatively new garage the guys had built for their vehicles, summoning bones for quick measurements for what appeared to be the start of an equally big building.

“you okay with that happening?”

She looked away and over at Sans to see him looking at her, his expression thoughtful. He thumbed towards Black’s general direction, “you know he’s about to build his own equally big garage for his one bike.”

She shrugged, settling more securely on his shoulder, “I could defiantly have guessed that, but I also don’t see much point in harassing him over it. I figure it’s easier to let him build his own garage than to get him to play nice with the guys and ask them to share their shed. Somehow, I can see that going horribly wrong for everyone.”

Sans chuckled as he made his way over to Papyrus’s car, a bucket full of clean water in one hand and cleaning rags and supplies in the other, “so, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Black.” She said, simply.

She could feel Sans shoulders clenching under her.

“what about him?” Sans asked, casually.

“I’ve been trying to figure out his deal, and I just don’t get it!”

She felt Sans relax under her as he gave an awkward chuckle.

She continued, “See, what I don’t get is how he acts like he hates everyone here, yet there he is, building something that you only need to have if you plan to be around for a long time!” She looked away from Black to watch Sans dumping the washcloth into the bucket, “There’s no special reason he needs to be close, is there?”

“nope.” He replied, wringing out the cloth and starting to wash the car, “he and his brother can leave and go where ever in the world they want. s’long as i can contact them and they don’t get into any incidents, they’re good to go.”

“Then why are they here?” She leapt for the car and began to pick up the large clumps of dirty, throwing them off the side as she worked her thought process out loud, “From what I can understand, when you decided you needed a bigger place, Black and Mutt decided they’d rather stay at your old place rather than move out?” She waited for Sans to nod, before sitting down heavily, “And that’s what’s stumping me! Why are they here now?? Did they change their minds? Because people just don’t suddenly change their minds about how much they'd rather be left behind than moving in with the people they hated that much!”

“i’m sure black’s just bored.” Sans replied, lacklustre cleaning the car.

“Bored?” She looked over at Black and saw how intently he was watching them. “Bored.” She said slowly as something clicked into place in her mind.

“I KNOW YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT ME!!” called Black, watching them from a distance.

Sans turned around and waved, “sure are buddy.”

“THAT’S IT!”

Suddenly Black was running towards them at top speed. All too soon, he skidded to a halt and flung even more dirt on Papyrus’s car. “YOU HAD BETTER STOP TALKING ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK THIS INSTANCE!!”

“No problem.” Y/n stood up and yelled, “Hey Blueberry, can I hang out with you for a while?”

“SURE!!”

While she waited for Blueberry to gently place his garden tools to the ground before he came running over to her, she turned to Sans, “Thanks for the chat Sans. It really helped clear a few things for me."

“aw, leaving me so soon and to do all the hard work myself?” He playfull sulked, waving around the dirty rag.

She stuck her tongue at him, “Please, as if we both don’t know that Papyrus is going to be cleaning his own car multiple times for days to come!”

Sans chuckled, but she could see how, despite knowing that, he did actually plan to make an effort.

“Y/N!” cried Blueberry, skidding to a halt on the other side of Sans, also flinging more dirt onto Papyrus car. “OOPS! SORRY SANS!”

Sans dropped the rag into the bucket with a sigh, “the moment i plan to actually try.” He muttered to himself.

“I’M SO SORRY!” Blueberry made to reach for the rag, “HERE, LET ME HELP!”

But Sans waved him off, “s’kay blue, really.”

“YOU SURE?”

Sans grinned, offering the rag, “well if you insist, you can always take the rag off me and clean for a bit. i promise to return at some point…..eventually.”

Blueberry narrowed his eyes at him, “YOU’RE TOO MUCH LIKE MY BROTHER!”

Sans smirked, jingling the rag in a tempting fashion as he waggled his eyebrows.

“FORGET IT! I’M NOT THAT SORRY!”

Laughing, Y/n held her side as she watched the pair, which quickly brought Blueberry’s attention back to her.

“Y/N! YOU WANTED TO HANG OUT WITH ME?!”

She nodded, still chuckling.

As Blueberry offered his hand, she walked onto to, using his thumb for balance as she continued to giggle to herself (Sans was still waggling his eyebrows as he held out the rag.). Blueberry took one look at this, before quickly leaving, leaving Y/n to watch Sans shrugging as he went back to work and a thoroughly perplexed Black off to the side.

~*~

Work on the front yard quickly took them into midday. The random appearance from either Stretch or Red delivering supplies kept everyone busy as windows were fixed, wall panels were replaced and a new door installed. Plastering was mixed up and used to patch the holes in the walls inside, but painting them would have to wait for another day as everyone continued to work while the plastering dried.

Black, himself, was busy setting up the foundation to his larger than necessary garage when Mutt delivered a bag of cement for him, but he had nothing else to do while he waited for the cement to dry. Soon, he too had a pile of supplies next to him, but all it retaining to the house that had yet to be built.

Instead, he attempted to bait the others into arguing with him, laughing at their quality of work and mocking how easily it had been for him to bypass all the “LAME AND BABY PUZZLES AND TRAPS!!”, but Y/n merely transported herself from person to person, reminding them to be calm and to just ignore him, using herself as a distraction when needed.

If Black truly was here because he was bored, then he could continue being that way because she was not about to let him use her friends' emotions to entrain himself!

Eventually, Black had gone away, sulking by the front doorstep as he continued to watch Y/n, his eyes never leaving her. She ignored him, and instead focused her attention on chatting pleasantly with whichever skeleton she happened to be sitting on, helping out where she could but generally encouraging and offering feedback where applicable.

When lunchtime came around, Y/n was sitting on Edge’s shoulder and watching him clean the windows when Blueberry’s voice came calling from across the yard, “LUNCHTIME!!”

Black folded his arms and crossed his legs on the front porch, “I GUESS IT’S THE EDGE LORD’S TIME TO COOK LUNCH WITH THE PET AGAIN.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” piped up Blueberry, running forward with his eyes sparkling, “Y/N IS NOT A PET, SHE’S OUR COOKING PARTNER, AND IT’S MY TURN TO COOK!” When Y/n leapt for his hand, he cradled her against his chest for a moment, before glaring at Black as he raised her to his shoulder, “AND YOU’RE NOT WELCOMED IN THE KITCHEN!”

But Black ignored him, his eyes darting between Edge and Blueberry, “Y-YOU ACTUALLY SHARE THE COOKING RESPONSIBILITY??”

Edge ignored him, choosing to pack up his cleaning supplies and head inside, stepping over Black.

Blueberry, however, puffed out his chest, “WE HAVE A WEEKLY COOKING ROSTER, AND PAPYRUS, EDGE AND I ALL TAKE TURNS TO COOK MEALS WITH Y/N! ISN’T THAT AMAZING??”

“AND THE EDGE LORD AGREED TO THAT??!” Black asked, staring in disbelief at Blueberry.

“OF COURSE!”

“BUT-BUT HOW??!”

Blueberry shrugged, “BECAUSE IT WAS A GOOD IDEA?”

Black’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Y/n, “YOU MEAN IT WAS HER IDEA?”

Y/n lifted her chin, defiantly, even as Blueberry turned to face her, beaming, “IT SURE WAS!”

She smiled back, “Ready to get cooking, partner?”

Blueberry raised his fists up, “ALWAYS AND FOREVER, COOKING PARTNER!!”

Without another word, Blueberry ran and leapt clean over Black, and kept running for the kitchen.

“H-HEY! I WASN’T DONE TALKING TO YOU!”

They both ignored him, and continued to ignore him when he came waltzing in and sitting down at the kitchen table. Unlike this morning, however, not only did he not put his feet up on the table, he also didn’t say anything, instead choosing to sit there in absolute silence, watching them. When Stretch, Red and Mutt appeared to be finished with all the shopping and were settling inside the house, with the skeletons talking to each other throughout the house, Stretch came in and sat down on the opposite side of Black, leaning back with a small smile.

Y/n did not miss how Black tucked himself further away from Stretch, which only caused him to smile further.

As was always the case when cooking with Blueberry, she quickly got caught up in trying to tame his enthusiasm, reassuring him that nothing was burning and to stop constantly stirring the meat! He was basically a skeleton-shaped blender when it came to salads and Y/n had only to scolder him four times today about not adding in glitter to the meat.

Soon lunch was cooked and served, and Y/n found herself eating lunch in front of Blueberry again, talking to Stretch and Red about a few dining room tables they saw.

“What do you mean, ‘it was a box shape’?”

Stretch shrugged, using his hands to vaguely trace out what he was so poorly describing, “it’s basically a rectangle box on legs. bout yay big.”

Rubbing her eyes, she looked over at Red, exasperated “Can you at least tell me what colour it was?”

Red shrugged, “white?”

“White??”

“yea, like it weren’t a proper white, but it wasn’t far off it.”

“Egg-shell white? Titanium white?”

“white but not quite proper white.”

She sat back down, dropping her head into her hands.

“IT WAS A MISTAKE TO ASK THESE TWO TO LOOK AT TABLES!”  Edge smirked, gleefully enjoying her misery, “MY BROTHER HAS NEVER HAD TO GO FURNITURE SHOPPING IN HIS MISERABLE LIFE!”

“MY BROTHER TOO!” added Blueberry, looking over at her concerned, “IF YOU NEEDED SOME TO GO FURNITURE SHOPPING ON YOUR BEHALF, YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED ME!” He gasped, before he quickly moved his head in closer to her, “I CAN TAKE YOU SHOPPING! WE CAN MAKE A DAY OUT OF IT!”

“OH WHAT FUN!” piped up Papyrus, with Edge nodding thoughtfully in the background, “IT CAN BE ANOTHER FUN DAY OUT, ONLY THIS TIME, WE’LL BE OUT IN THE HUMAN MALL INSTEAD OF THE BEACH!”

Sans, Stretch and Red did not look thrilled at the idea of a whole day of nothing but shopping.

“IF ANYONE IS TAKING THE PET OUT FURNITURE SHOPPING, IT WILL BE ME!”

Slowly, everyone turned to look at Black standing up at the head of the table, his glowing eyes locked onto her.

“Um, how about no?” she replied, still somewhat shocked at the request.

He spluttered, “WH-WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘NO’?!?”

“It means I’m not interested in going anywhere with you.”

“BUT WHY?!” He gestured to the rest of the table, “UNLIKE THE REST OF THESE IDIOTS, I AM THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO ACTUALLY NEEDS TO GO OUT FURNITURE SHOPPING! IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!”

“How about the fact that you have been nothing but rude to me and my friends since the moment I met you?”

“HEY! I DIDN’T THROW THE FIRST PUNCH!”

“No, but you most definitely threw the first insult. In fact, I think the very first thing I ever heard you say was an insult!”

Black huffed, folding his arms as he glowered at her, “I THOUGHT, IN EXCHANGE OF NOT SEEKING MY PERFECTLY JUSTIFIED REVENGE, YOU WOULD FORGIVE AND FORGET LAST NIGHT AND THAT I WAS TO BE A HOUSEMATE? TO BE A PART OF ALL THAT HAPPENS HERE?”

Y/n folded her arms, “Fine, but I’m not about to forget this morning and how I was god damn kidnapped!”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT-!” Black closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them, frowning, “IF WHAT YOU PROMISED IS TRUE, THEN THAT MEANS I GET TO BE A PART OF OUT OUTINGS TOO. ESPECIALLY IF I NEED TO GO ON THEM FOR MY OWN REASONS!”

“Like how you’re not being a part of our lunchtime by refusing to eat what Blueberry has gracefully served?” she asked, purposely looking down at both his and Mutt’s empty places.

Black glowered at her, even as Mutt watched on with indifference, before grabbing the last two plates on the table and pushing one it into Mutt’s chest as he held onto one for himself. “COME ON MUTT, APPARENTLY WE’RE BEING FORCED INTO SUFFERING FOOD POISONING IN EXCHANGE FOR THE PET KEEPING HER WORD.”

“Even if you had several plate fulls and praised Blue with every bite, I still wouldn’t go with you!”

Black dropped the serving spoon he had been using to heap a small pile of food onto his plate with, his mouth hanging agape is disbelieving shock and indignation, “WHAT?!? WHY NOT?!?”

“Because you have been nothing but an insufferable jerk from the moment I met you! Try asking me again when I don’t think you’re the biggest jerk that ever lived!!”

She didn’t know when she had stood up or at what point she had started yelling. All she knew was after Black and her had started hatefully into each other eyes for what felt like an eternity, he had thrown his plate off to the side, shattering it against the nearby wall, before strolling out to the backyard, slamming the door behind him.

Breathing heavily, she sat back down.

“geez babydoll, don’t think i’ve ever seen you that angry.” Red chuckled, nervously.

She glowered at her plate, “Let’s just say I haven’t got this angry since the last time a skeleton thought I could be messed and bossed around with.” She looked up at Red, “I have this thing where I like to let people know just how much I ‘appreciate’ their behaviour and attitude towards me.”

While Red looked quickly away, Stretch leaned back in his chair, thinking aloud, “black better watch out then, or he might find himself the focal point for a lot of revenge pranks.”

While the skeletons around the table nodded their agreement and began to compare their pranks to each other, trying to gauge who had gotten the worst of it, Y/n said nothing as she continued to stare at her plate. As pleasant and fun those pranks had become (looking back), and how strange it was to think of all the positives they had caused in her blooming relationships with the skeletons, they had been all she was capable of doing in her bid to defend her territory against infinitely more powerful enemies.

That had changed, of course, and now when she did prank, she pranked with the goal to entrain, rather than to harass.

However, after the debacle that she had recently just gone through, she wasn’t inclined to start pranking Black in the hopes of harassing him away. That memory was still too raw, too recent for her to begin thinking about what she could do to get even for any number of things Black had done to her and her friends. Instead, now she just didn’t want to give Black the satisfaction of her acknowledge his existence in any way….even if the idea of putting a pin on his chair was very tempting. It was a complicated feeling that saw her switching between wanting to just ignore him and pranking him so much, he’d leave.

Of course, there was also a small part of her that kept comparing her relationship with both Red and Edge from when she first met them to now, and how pranking seemed to improve that.

While everyone talked and Y/n thought, Mutt continued to eat in silence; his enjoyment or opinion about the food kept hidden by the wall of indifference he presented to the world.

~*~

After Papyrus had cleaned up Black’s mess (which she had insisted she help with, seeing as she played more than a key role in Black’s tantrum) and lunch had been cleaned away, Y/n was still thinking about her conundrum on a living room cushion while she sat and watched a movie with the rest of the skeletons, when Mutt came in from the backyard, an hour or so later.

“m’lord asks you to join him outside.” He said, with a shrug.

Edge scoffed, folded his arms and looked away, “‘M’LORD’, CAN ASK ALL HE WANTS! I’M NOT GOING OUTSIDE JUST BECAUSE HE ASKED!”

Red settled deeper into his seat, “tell lord bratface that we’ll be out there in the next year or so.”

Mutt ignored them, and instead looked at Y/n, “we’re attempting to clear the area so we can get started on building our house.”

Y/n looked intently into Mutt’s eyes, but couldn’t glean much. Thinking instead about the fact that the longer it took to them to build their house, the longer they’d be in hers, she sighed and turned to face the others.

“Come on guys. We need to go help them.”

“LIKE HELL WE DO!” Edge cried out, indigent.

She sighed, dropping her head into one of her hands, “Look, the longer they don’t have a house, the more time they have to spend in here.”

Blueberry leapt out of his chair to stand in front of the television, “COME ON GUYS! IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW AWFUL, AND MEAN, AND DISRESPECTFUL, AND RUDE, AND SELFISH AND-

“THE POINT IS-“ Papyrus said, interrupting Bluberry’s rant as he walked to stand next to him, “WE NEED TO BE BETTER THAN THAT AND HELP OUT OUR FELLOW MONSTERS! WHO’S WITH US?!”

“NOT ME!” and with that, Edge stood up and strode upstairs, his bedroom door slamming shut somewhere upstairs.

“yeah,” Red said, turning to look back at Papyrus, Blueberry and Y/n starting at him, expectantly, “think i’d rather not put any effort into help that insufferable brat and his whipped dog.” He looked over at Mutt and smirked, “no offence.”

Mutt shrugged, “if anyone knows what it’s like to get hit by their brother on regular bases, it's you red.”

Red leapt out of his chair with a snarl, “WATCH IT, YOU-!”

“cool it red.” Sans said, standing up and putting himself in between the two, his hand deep in his hoodie’s pockets, “if you don’t want to help, no one’s going to force you.”

“too right!”

And with that, Red dumped himself back into the couch, purposefully turning the volume up as he scowled at the television screen.

Shrugging, Mutt walked back outside, not bothering to see who would follow him.

In the end, it was Y/n riding on Papyrus’s shoulder, followed closely by Blueberry, with Sans and Stretch lagging behind.

Black stood in front of a section of trees off to the side of the pool, a tall bone protruding from the ground with an elaborate diagram on paper attached to the bone.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME!” he huffed, scowling at Mutt as he made his way back to his side, before his eyes glanced over the people who were following. “WHERE ARE THE WANNA-BE EDGY BROTHERS?”

“You’re lucky any of us are here at all after your attitude today.” Y/n scowled, already regretting the part she played at convincing her friends to help this entitled brat! She wasn’t sure how much longer she could take of Black’s blatant disrespect to her and everyone here.

At what point did you just write someone off as a lost cause for a possible friendship?

Black’s eyes briefly focused on her, before he huffed and deliberately turned his back to her and Papyrus, gesturing to the pile of supplies that Mutt had delivered in the morning (which had obviously been moved here at some point.) “NOW THAT I FINALLY HAVE THE SUPPLIES I NEED TO BUILD A GRAND HOUSE DESERVING ENOUGH TO BE CALLED MY HOME, WE FIRST NEED TO CLEAR OUT THIS SECTION OF TREES.”

With a wave of his hand, sharp jiggered bones burst out of two points on this side of the woods, and Y/n was quite sure two more bones were in somewhere deeper, marking what Black believed to be the size of his house and its clearing.

It was easily bigger than the land her house and yards were on.

“Forget it Black.”

He turned around to find her crossing her arms, not at all impressed.

“WHAT IS IT NOW PET?” He gestured to the woods, “I’M BUILDING MY HOUSE ON THE LAND YOU SAID I COULD LAST NIGHT!”

“Okay, one, that was a rough estimation and not a proper indication on what specific land you could build on, and two-“ she swept her arm along the entire length of the indications that saw it pass her front yard’s boundaries, “that’s way more land than you need for a two person house!”

“YOU SAID I COULD BUILD IT AS GRAND AS I WANTED!”

“A house, Black, not a mansion!” She looked over at Papyrus, “Can you bring me closer to his plans?”

“SURE!”

Happily, Papyrus jogged over to Black’s plans, ignoring the dirty look Black threw him.

Y/n, meanwhile, was staring open-mouthed at what Black considered a ‘house’.

“Why does your house have a stadium in it??”

Black folded his arms, “BECAUSE I REQUIRE A PLACE I CAN TRAIN TO KEEP MY AMAZING, AND FRANKLY FLAWLESS, SKILLS SHARP!”

“We already have something like that! You can use that!” she turned to look at him, “and why does your ‘house' have like ten stories to it??”

“IT HAS FIFTEEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

Y/n had heard enough.

“No, you know what?” she looked over at Papyrus before pointing to a particular tree, “Papyrus, do you see that tree with three branches sticking towards us?”

“YES?”

“Mind putting up a bone there?”

He did so happily, and so everyone could see the new markings indicated a quarter of an acre. Nowhere near comparable to what it had been before.

“That’s the land I’m offering.” She said, folding her arms as she stared Black down.

“THIS ISN’T FAIR!!” Black strolled up to her, attempting to match Papyrus’s height, “YOU SAID I COULD BUILD THE HOUSE HOWEVER I WANTED! I DEMAND MORE LAND THAN THAT!!”

“You want more than that?” she pointed to across the front of her house, “Then you and I both know where you can get it!”

It took a while, during which Black’s furious scowl flickered between the direction she was pointing to Y/n herself, before he looked away and spat, “FINE!”

“Okay then.” Breathing out a sigh, she turned to look at everyone looking at her oddly impressed, “I guess the first thing we need to do is clear-“

Black interrupted her, “THIS IS MY HOUSE! YOU’LL DO AS I SAY!”

“Fine then, Drill Sergeant!” she pointed a finger at him, “but if you’re too insufferable about it, I’ll quit and encourage everyone to quit with me!”

He continued to glare at her, before turning to the others, “CLEAR THE TREES!” He pointed to the ground off to the side, “AND MIND YOU PUT THEM INTO A RESPECTABLE AND ORGANISED PILE OTHER THERE!”

Sans and Stretch threw each other knowing looks, before both turned to the shed, saying they were getting tools to cut the trees into manageable and useable logs. Meanwhile, Papyrus and Blueberry threw themselves into the work, eager.

Y/n sat on Papyrus shoulder as the tree Papyrus faced was bathed in a warm orange glow. Looking over at him, she watched how his brow furrowed in concentration as he placed both hands on the trunk, as if he meant to carry it.

“Papyrus,” she started, “I don’t think you can just-“

With the sound of a great many roots tearing underneath, the earth around the tree split open as the tree was ripped out of the ground, roots and all.

Like it was nothing, Papyrus tossed the still glowing tree trunk on his other shoulder and began to walk over to Sans and Stretch, who were back with tools.

“Holy shi-sheets Papyrus! Just how strong are you??” Y/n asked, her mouth hanging open.

Papyrus dropped the tree in front of Sans as the orange glow left the tree’s bark, brushing his gloved hands clean before standing back, posing, “NYEH HEH HE! AREN'T I JUST THE COOLEST AND GREATEST MONSTER YOU EVER MET?”

“The absolute coolest and greatest!” she said, nothing but sincere and amazed by his abilities.

As Papyrus looked away with a pleased blush, Blueberry called out, “Y/N, LOOK AT ME!”

She turned on Papyrus’s shoulder and watched as he ripped his own tree right out of the ground, holding it high above his head with both hands as he grinned at her stunned face.

He smirked as he wiggled his eyes brows, tossing the glowing tree from hand to hand, “PRETTY IMPRESSIVE, RIGHT?”

“I’ll say!” she looked around at all the skeletons, her mouth still hanging open, “Just how amazing are you guys?? You’ve been hiding some serious skills and talents all this time, haven’t you??”

“THAT’S NOTHING!” called out Black, turning to pull a tree out with just one hand. It took longer, but when he managed it, he turned to look triumphantly at Y/n, “I BET YOU’RE JUST AMAZED AT HOW PERFECT AND AMAZING OF A MONSTER SPECIMEN I AM!” He posed, holding the tree high above his head with just one hand as he grinned, “GO ON, PET, PRAISE ME!”

Y/n ignored him, and instead turned her attention back to Papyrus, “You know, one day you're going to have to show me just how amazing and cool you guys really are! I-I never experienced magic before I met you guys.”

“REALLY??” Blueberry asked, rushing over, as Black continued to state at Y/n, his grin falling.

She beamed, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun when you guys use your magic to hold me in the air.”

“that you somehow manage to shake off.” added Sans, looking at her strangely as he stopped working, “so you’re telling me you’ve never encountered magic before us?”

“Nope.” She smiled pleasantly, “But I would certainly make an effort to not try to shake it off if I got a chance to fly around the living room!”

“DIBS!” cried out Blueberry, his eyes shifting into literal stars.

“AWWW.” Papyrus said as his shoulder dropped, “I WANTED TO BE THE ONE TO DO THAT FOR YOU Y/N. IT SOUNDS LIKE WE’D HAVE SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!”

She stood up and gently patted his cheek, “I highly doubt I’m going to get bored after just one go. I’d be careful if I were you guys though; I’m not above asking to be flown for the rest of my life so that my feet never touch the ground.”

Stretch chuckled, “we’d have to start past passing you like a ball when you want to switch skeleton if that happens.”

Sans chuckled quietly to himself even as Blueberry huffed, not looking impressed at the idea. Y/n, however, just pictured herself getting gentle lobbed side to side as Blueberry and Papyrus passed her across the living room, ducking and diving to the ground in an endless heart-pounding activity of Pass the Y/n.

“Th-that sounds amazing! And totally what we’re doing on the next rainy day!”

“HEY! DON’T IGNORE ME!!” cried Black, ignored by everyone.

When no one turned around to acknowledge him, he angrily stomped over to Mutt, who had his own tools out and ready to cut off branches. Black dropped the tree at Mutt’s feet, pointing at him as he snapped, “CLEAN THIS TREE OF ITS USELESS BARK AND BRANCHES, AND STARS HELP YOU IF YOU FAIL TO DO A GOOD JOB!!”

Mutt merely nodded, and went to work.

Y/n glared at Black’s back, looking away when he managed to rip another tree out and turned to carry it over to Mutt. Before he had a chance to say anything about her looking at him, she called out to Blueberry, who was about to rip out another tree, “Hey Blue, I bet you can’t beat Papyrus’s time it took him to lift a tree and carry it to his brother!”

Blueberry puffed out his chest, “CHALLENGED ACCEPTED!”

He gleefully turned to the tree and quickly tore it from the ground; chunks of dirt still dropping to the ground as he ran towards Stretch. Stretch, himself, actually flinched at Blueberry’s approach, before looking away as Sans smirked at him, waggling his brows at him, knowingly.

Puffing, Blueberry turned away from his slightly blushing brother after dropping the tree in front of him to face Y/n, beaming, “HOW WAS THAT!”

She hadn’t been keeping track, but the result was clear, “You did it!” she cheered.

“YESSSS!” Blueberry fist pumped the air, before he came running over to her and Papyrus, grinning, “WHAT’S MY PRIZE?”

“Um, how about I sit with you for awhile?” she asked, looking around for something better.

Blueberry, however, brightened. “DEAL!”

Grinning, she leat for his hand, giggling when he briefly hugged her to his chest, before setting her on his shoulder.

“CURES!” cried Papyrus, holding up his fits into a fighting stance, “I’LL HAVE TO UP MY GAME!”

“MWEH HEH HEH, I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!” boasted Blueberry, moving back to stand by his brother, picking up tools himself. “IN THE MEANTIME, I GUESS ME AND MY BROTHER WILL HAVE TO SPEND ALL THIS TIME WITH Y/N BY OURSELVES!”

Judging by the look on Papyrus's face, that wouldn’t last.

And so it began.

Papyrus and Blueberry would take turns trying to beat the current best time, with the current winner standing next to their brother and working to cut the trees into manageable and useable logs. Y/n, herself, had fun alternating between cheering on the current challenger and running the wood shaver along the tree’s length, attempting to take the bark off. She wasn’t that efficient or good at it, but it made her feel like she was helping, and it felt good to see the guys smiling at her efforts. At some point, Red came wandering outside and actually took over for Y/n when she got a painful splinter, him and everyone insisting that she had done enough. Outvoted, she sat back and went back to cheering the pair of energetic skeletons at clearing the quarter of an acre of land for the latest housemates.

The two skeletons in question continued to do their own work, separate from everyone else. Black was in his own private battle to beat Papyrus and Blueberry’s time, working desperately to outpace the two skeletons. Every time he managed to beat either Papyrus or Blueberry by delivering a tree to Mutt quicker, he always looked over at Y/n before looking away with a snarl when he noticed her blatant disinterest. Mutt himself seemed indifferent to the whole thing; he certainly didn’t say anything when Sans or Stretch came over occasionally to help with his ever-growing pile.

The tipping point was when Edge himself eventually came outside, glaring at the whole lot of them from a distance when they were about two-thirds done. After watching Y/n cheering on Blueberry and leaping into his hands after he managed to beat Papyrus’s basically unbeatable time, he came striding right past them and headed towards a clump of trees. Looking over his shoulder at Y/n with a smirk, Edge turned back to the trees and widened his stance. About five trees were surrounded in a red glow and Edge visible strained in effort as, with a might lift, his hands raised above his head and the trees were torn from the ground along with the motion. In silent triumphant, he walked proudly back over to the jaw-dropped group (everyone but Red, who just looked smugly proud), dropping the trees into his own very pile.

“HOW DID I DO?” he asked, smirking over at Y/n.

She shook herself out of her stunned shock; she had been watching Papyrus and Blueberry outperforming each other in what she already considered an impressive display of super-human abilities.

“Edge wins.” She said simply, still shocked.

With a smug smirk, Edge snapped his fingers and held his hand out to her before cocking his head towards himself.

Grinning, she lept for his hand, noticing how he stood taller as she sat down on his shoulder and he turned to face a still stunned Papyrus and Blueberry, “DON’T FOOLISHLY TRY TO BEAT ME, CHILDREN!”

Edge flung his head back, cackling “NYAH HAH HA!” as Blueberry scowled and Papyrus continued to look impressed.

*CRACK!*

Everyone turned to look as Black held two halves of a solid tree in each hand, his expression a mixture of thunderous rage and disbelieving exasperation as he watched them.

“Everything okay, Black?” she asked, genuinely concerned.

Black’s eyes focused on her, switching rapidly between her and Edge, before he threw the two tree pieces over next to Mutt, who didn’t so much as look up from his work as they landed heavily next to him.

Without another word, Black marched away, towards the furthest corner of the land soon to be cleared of trees.

“SOME PEOPLE CAN’T TAKE THE FACT THAT THEY’VE ALREADY LOST!” Edge said loudly, yelling the last part towards Black’s retreating back.

“Don’t antagonise him.” Y/n scolded, not wanting to see what a fight between Black and Edge would look like.

Edge continued to look smug as he walked over to Red and began to help clean the trees he had just brought over free of all their bark and branches.

At least, he looked smug, until the first tree landed in the clearing, just in front of Mutt.

Everyone turned to look at the fallen tree, watching as a second, and then a third quickly joined them. Looking up, they could see tree after tree flying through the air, landing one after another in a seemingly endless stream.

“Black! Stop!!” Y/n called out, actually concerned for him as everyone took several steps back and away from the clearing.

Mutt sighed deeply, reaching into his jacket and pulled out a dog treat, making his way over to Edge and Y/n as he lit it up. “m’lord has decided he’d rather clear out this section by himself.”

“Is he okay?” Y/n looked away from the sight of tree landing one after another to look at Mutt, concern clear across his face, “He’s not going to get himself hurt doing that, is he?”

Mutt cocked a brow at her as he let loose a puff of purple smoke, looking her up and down, “since when do you care?”

“I-I….” she looked away.

She didn’t know what to say. What could she say?

She honestly couldn’t say she cared about Black’s wellbeing; he was, after all, doing this to himself. She had bearly known the guy a day and already her opinion about him was that he was a self-centred, egotistical brat who liked harassing other people for the sole joy of watching them suffer. Add to that the fact that he was probably here, not because he wanted to be or missed the other skeletons, but was bored and was using their emotions to entrain himself, and her opinion about him basically couldn’t get any lower.

However, knowing that he was so distressed that he was probably hurting himself right now, pushing himself up to and possibly beyond his breaking limits? For someone she would have said was deserving of getting punished for the consequences of his own actions, seeing it actually play out in reality like this, and Y/n suddenly found the whole idea distasteful.

No one, not even self-entitled brats like him, deserved this kind suffering.

Mutt continued to look at her, analysing her expression and body language, before blowing a puff of smoke over at Y/n, causing Edge to scowl at him as he waved the air clear, still looking at her quizzically. When she didn’t respond to the smoke, he shrugged and called out to the larger group behind them, “that’s it for today.”

Without another word, Mutt turned his back to the group and continued to smoke, watching tree after tree hitting the ground with earth pounding blows.

“you sure?” asked Sans, coming over.

Mutt glanced over at Sans, before looking back up at Y/n as he said, “yeah, you’ve done enough.”

He walked away from the group, towards the growing pile of trees, effortless moving side to side as he managed to stay out of the path of the on-coming trees.

Everyone turned to head inside, to find an activity that would occupy them for the rest of the afternoon as everyone waited for dinner, but only Y/n looked back to see Mutt standing off to the side watching as something thrashed and flung between all the foliage.

~*~

Y/n had been very subdue as she finished watching the movie on Red’s chest (who had apparently paused it fairly quickly after they all left in favour of going outside to spy on them from afar), his gently breathing as his ribs moved slowly up and down helped calm and settle her, but only barely. He and Sans (the only two to remain and finish watching the movie as the others left to do something else) had asked if she was okay, and the only answer she could give was that she wasn’t sure.

Not even Papyrus could lift her spirits when he came bursting into the room, basically singing that it was dinner time and he needed a ‘DASH OF BITTY HELP!’

Nothing could help lift her spirits when all she could do was keep replaying over and over the scene from beside the woods. From Mutt’s expression as he looked at her, to Black’s reaction to her praising Edge, something about this whole situation just felt…..wrong.

Was it just that she was a kind person, and therefore would always hate to see and feel bad when people suffered, even people like Black?

Something told her that wasn’t quit it; something about her perception of Black’s motivations was off and she just didn’t have the whole picture yet. Why had Black looked at her and Edge with something near akin to betrayal? Why did he care about her praising her friends and appear to seek her appraisal too; didn’t he think so lowly of all them anyway?

Why the hell was he here??

If he was truly bored, wouldn't he have found someone else to annoy instead of sticking to her friends like this? Travel the world, take up a hobby, meet new people, anything really; if he really was bored, he had any innumerable options than to annoy people he clearly didn’t like.

Until she got an answer as to why he was so adamant about being here, she knew this would bother her, like a splinter at the back of her mind. Unless she figured out what truly motivated him, Black’s suffering would just feel wrong and she would continue to feel bad about it.

“IT WAS THIS BAD LAST TIME TOO.”

Y/n looked away from the pot of slowly cooking pasta sauce to see Papyrus looking at her, concerned.

“Wh-what?” she asked, lost.

He sighed, gesturing to the spoon in his hand, “I’VE OFFERED YOU A TASTE OF OUR FABULOUS COOKING ABOUT SIX TIMES NOW.”

“Oh! Sorry Paps.” She stood up and moved towards the spoon, “So, what do you think? Needs more garlic?”

But Papyrus gently placed the spoon back into the pot, stirring it more.

“ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT BLACK AND MUTT?” he asked, looking over at her.

“Um….” She sat back down, leaning against his skull. “Yeah.” She admitted.

Papyrus hummed approvingly, “YES, THEY ARE QUITE THE PAIR. I KNEW I WOULD MISS THEM WHEN THEY SAID THEY WANTED TO STAY BEHIND.”

“Miss them??” She turned around to look up into Papyrus’s face, searching his expression, “Papyrus, I don’t know about Mutt, but Black’s been nothing but rude since he got here! What’s there to miss??”

Papyrus waved her off, “OH, THAT’S JUST BLACK BEING BLACK. HE’S NOT MUCH WORSE THAN EDGE.”

“He’s a lot worse than Edge!” she exclaimed, angry on Edge’s behalf.

Papyrus looked over at her, cocking an eyebrow, “REALLY?”

“Yeah!” she said, moving away from Papyrus's skull to cross her arms.

Seriously, how were the two comparable??

He merely shrugged, returning to his stirring, “I’LL ADMIT EDGE’S BEEN A LOT CALMER SINCE WE MOVED IN, BUT I THINK YOU’RE FORGETTING WHAT HE WAS LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST MET. DIDN’T HE TRY TO KILL YOU SEVERAL TIMES?”

“He-he…!” Y/n stopped, and her accusing hand fell back to her side as, especially now that Papyrus had pointed it out to her, she remembered that Edge had been a jerk to her when they first met. Several days in a row, in fact.

A real jackwagon.

“He wasn’t this bad.” She mumbled, really not liking comparing the two in her mind now.

Papyrus moved over to the boiling pot of pasta, fetching out a piece and waiting for it cool in his hand, “BLACK’S NOT SO BAD WHEN HE’S NOT TRYING TO SHOW OFF.” He looked over at her, smugly, “YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE NOTICED, BUT THE OTHERS HAVE A TENDENCY TO SHOW OFF. THANK THE STARS I’M THE MOST HUMBLE SKELETON EVER AND CAN SEE THIS OBVIOUS PERSONALITY FLAW!”

Y/n snorted before she had a chance to cover her mouth, snickering behind hands.

“I AM VERY MODEST ABOUT MY AMAZING ABILITIES!” he exclaimed, posing in the middle of the kitchen, a noodle hanging from his posing hand.

That certainly didn’t help as tears of suppressed laughter gathered in the corner of her eyes. Knowing anything she tried to say now would be drowned out by the laughter she was bearly holding back, she merely nodded, taking deep breaths.

Papyrus huffed before testing the noodle. Nodding in satisfaction, he took the pot off the boil and drained the water. “JUST WAIT AND SEE Y/N; IN A FEW DAYS, I JUST KNOW YOU’LL LOOK BACK AND BE SHOCKED THAT YOU AND BLACK WEREN’T THE BESTEST OF FRIENDS FROM THE VERY MOMENT YOU MET!”

“You really believe in the absolute best of people, don’t you Papyrus?” she asked with sincere wonder, wiping her eyes.

He turned to grin at her, “ALWAYS!” Then his expression fell slightly, “TRUTH BE TOLD, I HAD GREAT TROUBLE GETTING BLUEBERRY AND EDGE TO BE NICE TO EACH OTHER WHEN THEY FIRST MET. NOW THEY’RE THE BEST OF FRIENDS!”

Rolling her eyes, Y/n thought the ‘best of friends’ was a bit of a stretch. There was a bit more to their constant ‘friendly competition’ than that.

“And Black?” she asked, genuinely curious.

Papyrus sighed deeply, looking troubled, “BELIEVES THAT HAVING FRIENDS WAS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS AND CALLS NO ONE HIS FRIEND.” He brightened as he looked over at her, “BUT DON’T YOU WORRY, I JUST KNOW, WITH YOU WORKING YOUR SPECIAL POWER AND MY CONTINUED AMAZING SKILLS AT BUILD FRIENDSHIPS FROM MORTAL ENEMIES, WE CAN WIN HIM OVER!”

“I don’t have any special magic, Papyrus.” She sighed, briefly listing all the superpowers she would love to have and it what order in her mind.

“NONSENSE!” scolded Papyrus as he took the pot of pasta and sauce into the dining room.

“DINNER!” he called, before offering a hand to Y/n and transporting her to the table. After he finished serving her, he gently placed the pot in the middle of the table before grinning down at her, “YOU MAY NOT KNOW WHAT EDGE WAS LIKE AT OUR OLD PLACE, BUT EVEN YOU MUST BE ABLE TO SEE THE CHANGES YOU’VE INSPIRED SINCE HE’S BEEN HERE! THAT, IS YOUR SPECIAL POWER! TAMING DIFFICULT SKELETONS!!”

“WHAT WAS THAT YOU WERE SAYING ABOUT ME?!?” snapped Edge, moving to the head of the table as everyone else came wandering in.

Papyrus looked shifty as he raised a hand to his head, “UM, ER, NOTHING!”

Edge narrowed his eyes at him, “I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!” he hissed.

Papyrus eyes kept darting towards the doorway that lead towards the living room and stairwell, edging towards it. Suddenly, he smacks his head and said in an exaggerated tone, “WHOOPSY DOOPSY! I JUST REMEMBERED THAT SOMEONE NEEDS TO GET BLACK AND MUTT!” He fled the room, crying, “BYE!” as he ran, the sound of the back door slamming shut in the distance.

Edge watched him go, before turning sharply to look at Y/n, “What WERE YOU SAYING ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK WITH THE CREAMPUFF?!” he demanded.

“Easy Edge, we were just talking about how different things are now when compared to when we first meet.” She grinned and touched her cheekbone, “You know, before you somehow managed to get green dye on your eye socket?”

“I’VE TRIED EVERYTHING!” he hissed to quietly to himself, lifting up his fork and peering at his reflection at the back of it as everyone else served themselves dinner.

“would this be before i got pink on my coccyx?” Red asked, before grinning over at her, “which i still haven’t gotten rid of yet, if you care for me to prove it?”

Y/n laughed, “You wanna walk through the house, bone naked again, go ahead! I won’t stop you!”

Sans dropped his head into his hand as Red join in with her chuckles, “please, for the love of stars y/n, don’t encourage him.”

Red leaned in towards him, throwing an arm around him, “aww. is vanilla feelin'-?”

He stopped whatever he was about to say as, instead, he focused on whatever was behind her.

Turning around, Y/n felt shocked at what she saw standing in the archway.

Papyrus came walking back in, sitting calming next to Edge and apparently forgetting he had been avoiding him not moments go, but it was the appearance of Black and Mutt that everyone else focused on.

Mutt was covered in sap, sticks and leaves, but he looked lightyears better than Black, who stood next to him, taking deep, shuddering breathes that saw him occasionally quivering. His immaculate clothes had been covered in dirt, sap and leaves that were stuck to him and occasionally fell off as he breathed. He had torn a hole through one of his gloves and mud covered one of his boots and travelled up his thigh-high socks. Mud and leave stains crisscrossed his skull, but they did little to distract just how dark the shadows under his eyes had become. Even his eye lights seemed dimmer.

For the image he had presented both last night and this morning, this dishevelled skeleton was anything but clean or proper. He was the picture of exhaustion, both physically and mentally.

“WHERE IS THE SHOWER?” he asked, glaring at the whole lot of them.

Y/n pointed towards it, “It’s just down the hall, first door on the left.”

Black nodded, his eyes shifting over the dining table.

He turned to Mutt, “EAT.” He ordered.

Mutt merely nodded, making his way over to sit next to Blueberry, grabbing a plate and serving himself.

“What about you?” Y/n asked, watching another leaf falling off him.

Black ignored her, choosing instead to walk towards the new front door, slamming it shut behind him.

“Okay then.” She looked around the table, smiling tiredly, “Guys, I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your effort today, especially for helping Black. I swear, anything you guys want to do next, you let me know. You’ve more than earned it.”

“oh baby doll,” grinned Red, “you really shouldn’t write blank checks like that.”

But Y/n merely waved him off, “After all the shit he’s put you guys through today, I’d gladly accept whatever you all agree is a fun activity. Think about and let me know, kay?”

They nodded, even if there was a slight scheming smirk to all their smiles.

Even Papyrus looked like he was concocting something!

Somewhat apprehensive and knowing these guys were bound to surprise her, she dug into her plate of pasta, humming in delight as she had her first mouthful.

Seeing everyone else tuckering into their own plates, Y/n finished her mouthful, turned around and asked, “So Mutt, can I ask for a bit more information about you and Black? Like, where did you two come from, what are your interests?”

She genuinely wanted to know more about this basically mute brother, and with Black out of the room, perhaps he’d talk more? It didn’t seem like he was free to talk much when his brother was in the room.

Mutt glanced over at her, looked over at her head at someone briefly before smirking and returning to his meal.

“YOU’VE NEVER ASKED ME THOSE QUESTIONS!” Blueberry cried out, a bit upset.

She turned around in her chair, smiling at him, “True, but I’ve gotten to know that kind of stuff by hanging out with you.” she listed off her own answers, “I guess if we’re speaking technically, then technically you all came from Mount Ebott. I know that tacos are your favourite dish because that’s all you ever want to cook, and I know you like puzzles and role-playing games because we had an amazing amount of fun doing that!”

While Blueberry blushed slightly, looking pleased, Edge growled as he dug into his plate “THERE’S NOT MUCH TO KNOW ABOUT THE SILENT CUR AND THE SHRIEKING BRAT. THEY’RE BOTH PAINS WHO SHOULD HAVE NEVER COME HERE!”

“That’s an awesome tone to have when talking about people who are going to be our housemates  for who knows how long.” She said, folding her arms at Edge and not at all impressed.

Edge stabbed a fork towards her direction, his eyes narrowed, “OH PLEASE! DON’T ACT LIKE YOU’RE NOT CURRENTLY REGRETTING AGREEING TO LET THE BRAT AND HIS DOG BUILD THEIR HOUSE HERE! IF THEY HADN’T FORCED YOUR HAND, YOU’D HAVE HAPPILY SEEN THEM GO LAST NIGHT!”

“Well I- I mean, I am trying to make this work! It’s not my fault that all I ever hear Black say is how awesome he is and how much everyone else sucks! You think I like getting insulted and getting called a pet over, and over again?! Don’t think the thought of cancelling the agreement hasn’t crossed my mind multiple times today!!”

The front door slammed, startling Y/n out of her rant as she and everyone else (expect Mutt, who merely continued to eat, indifferent to the conversation) turned to see Black fuming by the front door, a bag over his shoulder. His enraged eyes glared hatefully at Y/n for a moment, before the anger seemed to drain from him, leaving him just looking betrayed, his shoulder slumping.

Before Y/n could say or do anything, Black turned and stormed out of the room, the bathroom door slamming echoing up from the hall.

There was an awkward silence.

Feeling bad once again, Y/n played with her food in silence as everyone kept eating. Mutt finished first, long before anyone else, and he just left his plate on the table as he stood up and walked towards the bathroom’s direction, without so much as a word.

When the others made to stand up and clean up after dinner, Y/n finally spoke up, looking over at Edge.

“Papyrus pointed out to me that you and I didn’t exactly start on the right foot either. So how about you back off a bit and try to make this work, okay?”

Edge looked taken aback by her response, but he quickly huffed as he continued to gather plates, “SO, TELL ME, HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN TO KEEP FAILING AT TRYING TO WIN OVER SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT WANT TO BE WON OVER.”

She stood up slowly, grinning up at him, “I don’t know, how long did it take for you?”

~*~

Edge did not like being compared to Black. He refused to engage in the conversation as Papyrus, Blueberry and Y/n washed and Sans, Stretch and Red drying, moving quickly from the kitchen and upstairs before Y/n had finished suggesting another movie. Blueberry had suggested a board game, which made Red suggest a card game with a wink, but Y/n was more than over today; the fallout with Edge just being the final strike in a very tiring day.

So as a movie played with only Papyrus and Blueberry really giving it their full attention, Y/n attention was brought back from her ideally thoughts as the backdoor closed shut behind Mutt’s retreating back.

Turning away from the sight of a dog treat glowing in the dark below magical glowing eyes in the dark, Y/n saw Black standing by the living room’s archway, freshly washed and wearing tailored deep purple satin pyjamas, complete with a long, sweeping robe.

“WHICH ROOM IS OURS?” asked Black, his voice noticeably quieter.

“Room?” she asked, confused.

Black rolled his eyes, pointing upstairs, “WHICH ROOM DOES MY BED, WHICH I PLAN TO SLEEP IN TONIGHT, RESIDE IN?”

“You don’t have a room to ‘reside’ in.” she gestured to the living room couches, “Until your house is built, you’ll both be sleeping on the couches.”

Black’s low volume did not last long.

“I’M TO SLEEP ON A MOULDY, OLD COUCH!” he shrieked.

“Yep.” Y/n yawed with a stretch, “It's actually quite comfortable and its almost as good as a regular bed; in fact, this one happens to fold out into a pretty decent bed.”

Something occurred to her as she did a quick take of the room, counting seats. “Huh, guess I need to look at buying new couches too.”

Black, did not look at all impressed, “I REFUSE TO SLEEP ON A STUPID COUCH WHILE THE REST OF YOU GET TO SLEEP IN PROPER BEDS!”

“Then drive to a motel, because we don’t have spare beds laying around.” She pointed to a cardboard behind him, down the hall, “We do have plenty of blankets and a few spare pillows you can help yourself to.”

Black seemed absolutely livid at the very prospect, until an idea occurred to him, brightening his mood and putting her on edge. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR LANDLADY?”

“I am, but I can’t conjure beds from thin air, Black.”

Black ignored that, moving into the room with his hands behind his back as he continued to smirk, “THEN ANY DECENT LANDLADY WOULD SEE THAT HER TENETS ARE SUFFERING UNDER THEIR POOR MISMANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES, AND WOULD WANT TO DO WHATEVER IT TOOK TO EASE THE PAIN UNTIL THE TENETS COULD BE MORE COMFORTABLE?”

She looked around the room, “Hey, I did offer pillows and blankets, you know?”

Black moved closer to her, bending in front of her until they were on the same eye level. “IF THE COUCH IS SO ‘COMFORTABLE’, YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM SHARING MY SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS.”

She stared at him, “A-are you asking me to sleep with you?!”

Red chocked on his drink as everyone else began to blush, but Black merely grinned, “I’M NOT IN THE HABIT OF SHARING MY BED WITH PETS. I MERELY REQUEST THAT IF I DON’T GET A BED TONIGHT, THEN NEITHER DO YOU.” he stood up and picked up a cushion, tossing it to the coffee table. “OH MY,” he said, in an exaggerated tone, “THAT CUSHION LOOKS SO COMFORTABLE! IT’S ALMOST JUST AS GOOD AS A REGULAR BED!”

Y/n scowled at him, before looking at the cushion. The cushion WAS just as good as her bed; when you were small like she was, any soft surface felt amazing when you were too light to have to worry about proper support or springs.

However, the implication of sharing a room with Mutt and Black, the price of getting Black’s cooperation for just tonight when she really didn’t have the mental energy to fight…?

“If I agree to this, you can’t complain about your sleeping arrangements, ever again.”

Black grinned, “SURE, PET.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned to face Papyrus, noting the movie had long since been paused, “Hey Papyrus? Can I ask you to get Black some pillows and blankets?”

He pushed himself up from the floor, beaming, “OF COURSE Y/N!”

Y/n smiled as she watched him go, but that smile quickly fell with Black’s next words.

“OKAY YOU LOT, CLEAR OFF! THIS IS MY ‘BEDROOM’ NOW AND I DEMAND SLEEP!”

She turned around to scowl at him, “You mind asking that again in a different, far less rude manner?”

Black rolled his eyes, “WHAT’S THE ‘LESS-RUDE’ WAY TO TELL PEOPLE TO LEAVE SO THAT YOU CAN GO TO SLEEP?”

“Forget it.” she turned to sigh at the others, “Guess it’s time to head to our rooms. Can someone carry me upstairs please?”

“I WILL!” cried Blueberry, already leaping over the coffee table to reach her, laying across Sans’s lap to reach her first.

Seeing Blueberry ignoring him in favour of picking up Y/n, he shrugged before grinning, “i can’t believe that you beat me to her blue. that was un- _blue_ -ievable of you.”

“you _red_ my mind.” grinned Red, cocking his finger at Sans, which he returned with an even bigger shit-eating grin, “just in case he accidentally hit you gettin' to her first, i’d check for a black eye later sans.”

Stretch chuckled quietly to himself with his eyes closed, before opening them with a twinkle in them, “i must say, those are some _sans_ -ational pun  you guys have there.”

While the three idiots were shit-grinning and firing finger guns at each other, they ignored the absolute deep-pan expressions of Blueberry and Black, united for the first time by their hatred of puns. Y/n, meanwhile, between the three idiots and the Berries indignations, was holding her sides, doubled over, trying not to laugh.

She didn’t want to risk upset Black further tonight, but damn if it wasn’t hard!

“I’LL BE TAKING Y/N UPSTAIRS NOW!” huffed Blueberry

“MAKE SURE YOU RETURN HER TO ME, WON’T YOU….BLUE.” smirked Black, watching him leave with keen interest as Papyrus came back into the living room with all the pillows and blankets.

Blueberry stop at the foot of the stairs with his hand on the railing, looking back and looking like he was about to say something. However, after a quick glance down at her, Blueberry quickly moved upstairs, slowing down as he approached her house.

“A-ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?”

Y/n jumped down from his shoulder to land on her roof, sliding down it to land on her balcony. When she stood up, she looked up into Blueberry’s concerned face, “I’m like ninety percent sure I don’t have to worry about another kidnapping.”

That, was apparently the wrong thing to say.

Quickly, she reached out for him, grabbing a hold of the hand he held out to her. “Hey Blue, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“he’s ain't the only one worried about ch'ya babydoll.”

Looking around him, Y/n saw that Sans, Papyrus, Stretch and Red had made it upstairs, gathering around her house to look at her in concern.

Well, everyone but Papyrus.

“I THINK THIS IS AN EXCELLENT CHANCE FOR Y/N TO BOUND WITH BLACK!” he waggled his eyebrows at her, knowingly, “A CHANCE FOR SOMEONE TO WORK THEIR MAGIC?”

She let go of Blueberry’s hand to wave him off, “You need to lower your expectations of me, Papyrus.”

Papyrus leaned in closer towards her, beaming, “NEVER!”

Blushing slightly, she looked around at the others, “Besides, it’s just for the night, and you guys are right here. What’s the worry?”

“mutt can teleport, remember?” Stretch said, making Sans, Red and Blueberry look even grimmer.

“Oh.”

She had forgotten about that.

That….was a concern.

Sans looked seriously down at her, “kid, you don’t have to do this. you’re more than welcomed to spend the nights in our rooms till their house is done and you certainly don’t have to go through with the shared sleeping conditions thing with black.”

“And have to deal with forever being known as a lair in his eyes?” she shook her head, looking around, “I’d rather not get any sleep than be known as a liar.”

“he already calls you that.” Red pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m not about to make it true.”

When she could see that she wasn’t convincing anyone, she turned to open her door, “Look, I know it sucks. This whole thing has sucked since last night, but I’m not about to go against my word because he’s being an absolute brat. If he breaks the rules and actually reaches three strikes, I’ll happily have you guys toss him out. But until that happens, I’ve made my word all your problems.” She rubbed the back of her neck, “Sorry about that, by the way. I really didn’t ask for everyone’s opinion last night, did I?”

Red scoffed, disbelievingly, “since when does the value of your word worth all this shit?”

“Since I lost everything and had to deal with everyone around me lying to me about everything.” She replied, quietly.

She turned back around, “Look, I’m sure this doesn’t make sense, but I want to-“ she looked over at Papyrus, before looking at Edge’s closed door, “-try.”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” cried Papyrus, turning to face the others, “I’M SURE WE CAN TRUST BLACK AND MUTT NOT TO KIDNAP Y/N!”

She really wished he had been able to say that without looking nervous.

Trying to put on a brave face, she smiled up at all of them, “Goodnight everyone and I’ll see you all in the morning!”

She quickly went inside, closing her door behind her before they had a chance to reply.

When everyone had eventually mumbled their goodnights to her and she heard them move away, she felt comfortable enough to head to her room.

Looking around, she knew she would grab her pillow and blanket, but there was no need to drag her bed. Her backpack was staying with her, that was just happening, and she debated for a while on whether or not to change into pyjamas. Figuring that doing so would show the good faith she was currently questioning, she quickly changed, gathered her things and made her way to the vent.

Sliding down a level and making her way over to the exit that lead to the living room, Y/n was surprised to find only the small couch reading lamp on, the main couch still firmly folded in rather than out into a bed, Black missing and pillows and blankets on one armchair with Mutt asleep on the other armchair, laying across it so that his head rested on one armrest and his legs dangled from the other one.

There was also a lit dog treat hanging from his fangs, threating to fall and burn a hole in his clothing.

Clicking her teeth, Y/n dropped her things and made her way over to him. She wasn’t about to ask why Mutt hadn't waited till the couch was made into a bed or why he thought sleeping with a lit cigarette was a good idea, all she knew was she wasn’t about to risk a house fire just because she didn’t bother taking action while she could.

Climbing up to stand on the armrest, beside his face, Y/n briefly took this chance to acknowledge all the scars that were across his face. It was as bad, if not worse, that Edge. Feeling sad about the hidden history those scars told about these guys, she looked away from the crack in his eye and moved slowly to the lit dog treat. Slowly, she pried the lit dog treat from his slackened jaw, ignoring the slight purple smoke that made her eyes sting and numbed the fading pain in her wrist. With a steady heart rate and steady hands, Y/n turned and lept for the coffee table, using an edge of the table to stamp of the embers. It wasn’t ideal, but she wasn’t about to try stamping out the flames underfoot.

With her task down, she placed the now extinguished dog treat on the table, moving past it and around her cushion (set up with one of the softest blankest she knew she had) to drop to the floor and gather her things.

When she turned around, however, she saw that not only was the dog treat back in Mutt’s mouth, but it was also lit and he was smirking with his eyes still closed.

“You son of a-“

Hearing the sound of bone feet walking downstairs and heading towards her, Y/n fell quiet, shrinking back when she looked up in the near dark and saw Black’s purple eyes smouldering in the dark.

Still somewhat hiding, she watched as Black appeared startled to see Mutt sleeping where he was, before sighing heavily, folding his arms and tapping his foot as he stared down at him.

“REALLY??”

Black plucked the lit dog treat from Mutt’s fangs with a lot less care than Y/n had, snuffing out the embers on his palm. He tossed the dog treat onto the coffee table and moved towards her. Y/n though she had been spotted, but instead, Black picked up a pillow and a blanket. With these things, he walked back over to Mutt, gently lifted his head and wedge the pillow under his neck and head, making several adjustments before lowering his head softly to it. Next, he threw the blanket over Mutt, checking to make sure his feet were covered. With his task done, he turned to the couch, scowling at it.

“You actually have a soft side?”

Black shrieked, jumping back as sharp bones sprang up around him and Mutt in a protective circle. Seeing Y/n moving out into the open, her hands up, Black furiously blushed and quickly lowered the protective circle, the magic flames leaving his eyes.

“WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING, PET, SULKING IN THE SHADOWS??”

“I wasn’t ‘sulking’, I was picking up my things.” She pointed to the pile behind her, over by the vent.

Black’s eyes followed the direction she pointed to, before returning to her, glaring, “AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU HAD BEEN WHISKED AWAY, HOLDING UP IN ONE OF YOUR ENTHRALLED LAPDOGS ROOMS, SAFE FROM THE 'MEAN' BLACK WHO INSULTS EVERYONE FOR NO REASONS!”

She crossed her arms, “You’re insulting them right now! What were you even doing up there in the first place?!”

“NOTHING!”

But Y/n knew that wasn’t true.

“You went up there because you thought I was lying to you about sleeping here tonight, didn’t you?”

When he didn’t respond, she angrily turned to her pillows, “You know, I’m getting awfully sick of being called a liar when all I have ever done is told you the truth!”

“GIVE IT TIME.” Black said quietly to himself.

Not really seeing the point in pursuing what would sure to be a useless argument, Y/n continued to walk over to her things, wrapped her pillow up in her blanket before tossing the blanket bag over her shoulder and backpack before making her way back to the table leg. After she had managed to climb up and dumped her things by the pillow, she turned around to see Black cursing as he struggled to pop the bed mechanism out of the couch, the couch seats already flung to the far side of the room.

She was content to let him struggle, but then he was summoning pointed bone weapons and made to jam them into the couch.

“What are you doing??” she called out, running to the edge of the table.

Black looked back at her, in a mid-stabbing pose. “I’M TRYING TO GET THIS HUNK OF JUNK OUT SO THAT I CAN SLEEP!”

“You need to pull at the right spots, Black.”

“OR PLUNGE MY BONES INTO KEY AREAS.” He turned back to stab the couch.

“Do that, and not only will it be another strike for you, but you’ll also ruin any chance of it ever popping out and you'll then have to spend the night on the floor!” she yelled.

Black continued to glare at her, before letting his bones disappearing in a puff of purple magic dust.

“OKAY PET!” he spat, “WE’LL DO IT YOUR WAY, SINCE YOU’RE GOING TO USE THE THREATS OF STRIKES AGAINST ME!”

Sighing, Y/n lept for the couch, walking across the metal mess and pointing to two key spots. “You need to pull here and here at the same time.”

“AND HOW AM I GOING TO DO THAT??”

She shrugged, “I was sort of thinking Mutt would still be awake to help you.” she looked over at him, “We can always wake him up, seeing as how I’m all but certain he is currently awake anyway.”

“NO.”

She turned in surprise back to Black, who was looking over the couch, thoughtful.

When he noticed her looking at him in surprise, he cocked an eyebrow, “WHAT?”

After she nodded her head towards Mutt with a questioning look, Black looked hurriedly away, “L-LOOK, I KNOW MY BROTHER, AND A MORE USELESS BAG ON BONES HAS NEVER WALKED THE EARTH!” He quickly bent to the couch, “IT’S BETTER TO LET HIM JUST SLEEP THAN TO BOTHER GETTING HIM INVOLVED.”

“Okay,” she relented, “but it doesn’t solve our problem.”

“MY PROBLEM,” Black corrected, turning to walk back over to the armchair with all the bed supplies, “AND ONE THAT I HAVE ALREADY FOUND A SOLUTION TO!”

Pulling out a blanket, Black walked back over to the couch and tied both ends to the key points Y/n had pointed out. Checking that they would hold, Black grabbed the middle of the blanket and heaved.

“Wait, Black, the coffee-“

Before she could finish her warning, the bed sprang out and came flying at her and the coffee table. She barely had enough time to clench up, expecting an impact.

It took her a few moments to realise that it never came.

Opening her eyes and uncurling from her stance, she noticed that the coffee table was currently hoving in the air, surrounded by a purple glow. Gently, the coffee table was lowered to a spot just beside the armrest on the couch.

“HA!” Black cheered, posing pompously, “PRETTY NICE JOB I DID, SAVING YOU LIKE THAT WITH MY AMAZING LIGHTING REFLEXES!”

“It would have been more amazing if you had waited and let me explain further,“ she looked away from making sure all her stuff was still her before smiling over at Black, “But I will admit it was a nice save.”

Black gapped at her, a slow purple blush building. Before it grew much further, he turned his back on her, his back straight.

“Y-YEAH, WHATEVER! SHUT UP!”

Smiling in absolute shocked delight, Y/n shook her head in disbelief at this strange skeleton, who seemed to switch from moods quicker than a traffic light. Rather than point this out to him or test just how far she could push this, she instead turned her attention back to her own bed, quickly setting herself up.

After a brief moment, Black threw her a quick look before his magic grabbed the rest of the pillows and the blanket, making his own bed and getting himself ready for bed.

Laying down, Y/n admitted, “You know, that was a very clever idea using the bed sheet like that.”

“OF COURSE IT WAS!” Black spat, looking determinedly away, “I AM A BRILLIANT COMPOSER OF INGENIOUS TRAPS; FIGURING OUT THE TRICK TO YOUR PITIFUL HUMAN DEVICE WAS CHILD’S PLAY!!”

“Really?” she asked, pushing herself up to grin over at Black, “Is that why I had point things out to you?”

Black sat up too, “YOU MERELY GAVE ME THE ANSWER I ALREADY KNEW! I-I WAS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO EXPLAIN IT TO YOU IN A WAY YOU’D UNDERSTAND!”

“Really?” she drawled.

He leaned over, grinning, “REALLY!”

Rolling her eyes, she rolled onto her side and turned her back to him, “Well, I guess I’ll never have to help you with ‘pitifully’ human devices again, will I? My, it sure would be embarrassing if the Malevolent Black was stumped by a human mailbox, wouldn’t it?” She looked back at him over her shoulder, grinning, “Trust me Black, just go to sleep and stop giving me ideas. Ask the other guys how it turned out for them when they doubted me?”

“AWW, IS THE LITTLE PET EXHAUSTED AFTER A WHOLE DAY OF DOING NOTHING?” he mocked behind her.

She sat up, “Excuse me? Dealing with your bull shit has been more than exhausting! Do I need to remind you about the kidnapping this morning??”

“YOU MEAN THE MISUNDERSTANDING.” He leaned in, grinning at her, “BUT I SHOULDN’T BE SURPRISED HOW TIRED YOU ARE; WEAK PEOPLE OFTEN GET EXHAUSTED OVERDOING SIMPLE THINGS, LIKE WAKING UP!”

She glared at him, “I use to pull all-nighters all the time; you’re the one that needs to recover after the tantrum you threw in the woods!”

His grin fell, “YOU REALLY THINK I’M TIRED AFTER THAT SUPER EASY TASK??”

Now it was her turn to smirk, “Very. Like a baby skipping its nap.”

“WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO SLEEP, BECAUSE I’M WIDE AWAKE AND FILLED WITH ENDLESS ENERGY AND POWER!” He smirked right back at her, “YOU SHOULD GET YOUR SLEEP THOUGH; YOU HAVE ANOTHER EXHAUSTING DAY GETTING CARRIED FROM PLACE TO PLACE LIKE THE PET YOU ARE!”

“You wanna bet!?” she threw off her blankets, “I’ll still be awake hours after you’ve fallen face first on your stupid smug face, and the moment you do, I’ve got a permanent marker and red lipstick with your name all over it Black!”

Black threw his head back, “THEN YOU’LL BE WAITING TILL THE END OF TIME, BECAUSE I HAVE NO NEED TO SLEEP! I JUST HAVE LULLS BETWEEN MY NEXT AMAZING FEET!”

“Then get comfortable, because all I’m doing in thinking about which side the penis is getting drawn on your skull!”

“TOUCH ME AND DIE PET!”

“Not until you fall asleep like a bratty child after a sugar rush!”

~*~

And so went the very, very long night of Black and Mutt’s first night at the house.

 

Next Chapter is called: I was wrong

 

**?!?FANART?!?**

Toaster Fishie- [What do I even call this awesomenes??](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/rnd-injustice/175620344778)

Lost Immortality- [Sassy pose, ACTIVATE!](https://lost-immortality.tumblr.com/post/173212008827/i-got-kinda-bored-a-few-days-ago-it-was-only)

Misaran17- How to create an epic adventure! [Step 1](https://misaran17.tumblr.com/post/173856678475/hey-its-been-a-while-i-started-this-picture),  [Step 2](https://misaran17.tumblr.com/post/174557939235/rnd-injustice-im-sorry-this-took-forever-to)

IwantALLtheCookies- [Bad Ass Y/n!](https://78.media.tumblr.com/d0e6bdcbcd037d826d5f505ed6577e5a/tumblr_messaging_pac2i9QRMl1tcx0ef_1280.jpg), [Red's 'predicament](https://78.media.tumblr.com/fc2bdb663d3b643212fbac940d1e7db2/tumblr_messaging_pac2j40wTV1tcx0ef_1280.jpg),[D'wwww](https://78.media.tumblr.com/ec9f021dba7898b601b3ade7724e557c/tumblr_messaging_pac2k0UXnM1tcx0ef_1280.jpg)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back and MAN did I miss writing!!  
> Okay, two new things; First up, I am now doing in character responses on my Discord server!! This means you can ask any of the characters, from any of my stories, questions/do something /say something to them, and I'll respond as that character! I've already had some amazing people ask me some interesting questions that really helped me figure more about these guys and it's been a butt load of fun for me. Check out the rules to figure out the 'how to', or ask around; I can name several people who would more than help you =) (You know who you are, ya sweethearts!)  
> Second thing; I have another story!! I know, WTF, right? It's called Bitty Hunt Shenanigans, and as I'm sure you've already guessed, it's the place where I'll put POV, What-if's and general requests that I get for Bitty Hunt. So if you've got something you'd like to see, make sure to leave a comment, explaining it over with that story. With that story, the more people who comment on your idea and express a 'Wow, I'd like to see that too!' the more likely I'll be inclined to do it.....or I might see your idea and think 'Oh, I just HAVE to write this!'. It's going to be updated when I feel like it/ have time, so don't expect it to update automatically on Saturdays; I'll update as I complete requests, so check it out more regularly, I guess (*Shrug*).
> 
> I'm so sorry I missed June, and I really to make it up! Problem is, I'm still busy. Although, I have more time now, so I'm hoping to get a second update this month, but no promises. As always, I'll update the five main stories on a Saturday, so check in then.  
> All I can say is I'm keen to get back into writing =)!


	15. I was wrong

Black and Y/n were still glaring at each other when Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge came down the stairs in the early morning light, dressed in their daily jogging gear.

Neither had fallen asleep and neither had said much to each other in the last few hours. They were both too busy staring at each other without really seeing, with Y/n sitting crossed legged on her cushion, her bitty pillow wedged under her chin and the large blanket wrapped around her body as she stared up into Black’s eyes as he rested his head in his arms, folded upon the armrest of the couch and peering down at her.

“DID-DID YOU BOTH STAY UP THE WHOLE NIGHT?” Papyrus asked, coming into the living room slowly with Blueberry and Edge behind him.

Y/n looked away from the glowering Black to smile at Papyrus, feeling unusually light, “Heeyy Paps!” she waved at the staring skeletons behind him, “Hey Blue, hey Edge! Going for your morning run?”

“ANSWER THE QUESTION PEST,” Edge folded his arms, looking between them, “DID YOU STAY UP THE WHOLE NIGHT?”

“Yeah?” she replied, not really understanding why Edge looked upset by that answer.

After he threw a dirty look at Black, Edge strolled out of the room, with the front door slamming hinting where he went.

“What’s wrong with him?” Y/n asked, rubbing her eyes and thoroughly confused now.

“HE’S- WE’RE JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU Y/N.” Papyrus sighed, looking away from the front door to her, clearly concerned and conflicted.

She waved him off, “Oh, don’t worry about me.” She thumbed in Black’s direction, “I’d be more worried about Mr Sleepy Pants over there-“

“YOUR PANTS ARE SLEEPING!” Black snapped lazily, rolling his head off to the side in his arms to glare at the backyard.

Y/n rolled her eyes, nuzzling her face deeper into the pillow in her arms as she groaned in exhaustion.

“Y/N?” Blueberry’s voice was much closer than she expected, so she peered tiredly over to look at his face next to her, his eyes shimmering, “IF-IF YOU’D LIKE, I CAN TAKE YOU BACK TO YOUR ROOM FOR A RESTFUL NAP?”

Before she knew what her answer to that was going to be, Black spoke up, “PHA! OFF YOU GO, LITTLE PET! GO AND GET SOME SLEEP, LIKE A WEAK PERSON WOULD!” He rolled his head over to stare at Blueberry, “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D ACTUALLY SUPPORT TAKING NAPS IN THE MORNING! YOU USE TO HAVE SOME SENSE, SOME DIGNITY, BUT I CAN SEE THAT EVEN THAT’S GONE NOW!”

“HEY!” Blueberry stood up, frowning at Black “I’VE ALWAYS SUPPORTED GETTING A GOOD NIGHT REST! AND IF Y/N DIDN’T, SHE SHOULD GET SOME REST NOW!” He waved a hand over at Black, “SAME GOES FOR YOU ACTUALLY! YOU’RE BOTH GOING TO BE VERY TIRED-“

“I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE PET,” Black said, slowly raising, “BUT I’VE NEVER FELT MORE AWAKE AND RESTED IN MY LIFE!”

“And I’m good to go.” Y/n insisted, watching Black carefully as she threw off her blanket and made to stand as well.

As Blueberry sighed, Papyrus moved towards Black, a look of anticipation on his face, “SO BLACK?”

Black finished brushing out the creases in his pyjamas and turned to glare at Papyrus, folding his arms. “WHAT?” he snapped.

“SEEING AS YOU’RE BACK, BLUEBERRY AND I HAVE LONG SINCE RESUMED OUR MORNING WORKOUTS, ALTERNATING BETWEEN A JOG AROUND THE PROPERTY AND TRAINING IN THE BACKYARD. WE’VE EVEN MANAGED TO CONVINCE EDGE TO JOIN US!”

“GET TO THE POINT!”

Papyrus smiled brightly, “WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US AS WELL?”

Black looked generally surprised by the offer, before his eyes flickered to Blueberry behind Papyrus and over to the front door where Edge had disappeared to.

Then the surprise left his expression and a familiar scowl returned.

“WHY WOULD I EVER WANT TO GO FOR A RUN WITH A BUNCH OF WEAK, SLOW, BABY MONSTERS?!”

Papyrus looked taken aback, “BLACK-”

Black turned his back away from everyone, folded his arms before waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder, “GO! AND HAVE FUN PLAYING BABY GAMES WITH EACH OTHER!”

Papyrus looked reluctant to move until Blueberry gently grabbed his arm and guided him out of the room.

Only when she saw the front door close behind their backs did Y/n turn around to face Black, “What the hell is-!“

Whatever she had been about to yell at Black vanished when she beheld his expression.

He looked absolutely devasted; crushed and forlorn with his shoulders sagging as the anger drained from him, leaving him just looking small.

That was, until he noticed Y/n staring at him.

Without another word, he turned back to his bed, tearing the sheets from it and angrily folding them up, before tossing pillows onto the floor.

“Black?”

He ignored her, instead choosing to bend down and pick up the pullout’s legs, angrily stuffing the whole thing back into the couch.

“Black, seriously, what’s wrong? Why are you so adamant about keeping your distance from everyone else?”

After angrily stuffing the couch seatings back where they had come from, Black walked over to Mutt’s resting spot and abrasively shoved his legs off the armrest.

“GET UP!” He snapped harshly, tearing the blanket off Mutt and already starting to fold it.

Mutt sat up, stretching his arms and back before handing over his pillow with far more speed and efficiency than Y/n found to be believable for some who ‘just’ woke up.

Ignoring that, Y/n put on her backpack over her pyjamas and attempted to get close to Black, following him from side to side of the couch as he went about putting everything back to how it had been before last night.

“I don’t get it! It’s obvious you wanted to go for a run, yet you said no?? Is it a pride thing; is that why you’re here? Is it to prove some sort of point to someone?”

Black threw the last blanket on the pile of pillows in the far, out of the way corner, before wheeling on her, “YES, OF COURSE IT’S A PRIDE THING!!” he posed, “WHAT SELF-RESPECTING MONSTER WOULDN’T BE CAUGHT DEAD IN THEIR COMPANY?!”

“Then why did you look so regretful?!”

“I DID NOT-!”

“Lie to yourself if you want, but I know what I saw!” she folded her arms, staring up as he glared down at her, “Why are you even here?? What’s the point of being here at all if you’re going to do is push people away?? Did you want to be hated by everyone here, is that it?!?”

Black let her finish her speech, his eyes getting darker every second. When she was done, his face was a combination of rage and pain, and it looked like he was on the brink of tears. She never discovered if that was true or not, because the next thing he did was grab his bag and run down the hall, the bathroom door slamming shut behind him.

Sighing deeply, she rubbed the back of her sore neck and face, groaning in her hands, “I just don’t understand.”

Mutt chuckled bitterly somewhere off to her side, but when she looked up, hoping she could ask him questions, it was to see him lighting up another dog treat and heading for the backyard.

~*~

Climbing back to her room using the ventilation system with all of her stuff was a welcomed distraction from her thoughts, even if her wrist was still a tad sore. A long shower after a longer night with no sleep and little in way of understanding that enigma of a skeleton was equally welcomed as well, even if she sorely wished for answers.

If Black would just come out and say what it was he was looking for, what it was he got out of being here, then none of this would be an issue! If he was bored, then why come here and not explore the world or something? If he was lonely, then why did he push Papyrus and his offer away? If he was a proud person, then why come here in the first place? Surely coming here for the first time a few nights ago must have seemed like a weak thing to do; seeking out the people you’d rather see the backs of than move in with them when they left original.

_‘Maybe he doesn’t know what he wants?’_

That made her laugh bitterly, washing the last of the soap off her body as she started heading out to dry herself.

The ultimate irony; trying to understand someone who might not even understand themselves!

And Mutt! Who knew what his deal was, what he got out of this or even what the full extent of his and Black’s relationship was! At times it seemed more servant and master than brothers. Then there was last night’s tucking in and the moment after Black started tearing up trees. There was care there, a legit concern that seemed to align more with what she would expect to see from brothers.

At times, their relationship kind of resembled Red’s and Edge’s, but even that was a relationship she was still trying to understand.

Overall, she had so many questions and not a lot of ways to get answers.

_‘I guess the best I can do is just watch for more understanding, and hope today is better than yesterday?’_

She chuckled sadly as she finished putting on her backpack and headed back to the vent. It was a sad state of affairs when she was would call today a win if nothing broke.

Otherwise, it would be the third day in a row….or every day since she met Black and Mutt.

~*~

Going back downstairs, she wasn’t at all surprised to see Sans, Stretch and Red not in the kitchen, talking over cups of coffee as they waited for their brothers to return. Seeing them actually up at this hour was uncommon, but made for a welcoming change from trying to find ways to kill time as Y/n usually woke up early enough to see Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge leave for either a run or working out in the backyard.

It was this boredom that peeked her interest enough to follow the sounds of mutterings coming from the living room.

Returning, she saw that the coffee table had been moved back since she had left, with her blanket folded and placed into the pile in the far corner. Black was hunched over the table, dressed for the day as he huddled over scraps of paper, pencils and rulers close at hand.

“What are you doing?” She asked, walking out the vent and over towards him after seeing Mutt sitting on the patio chair, apparently enjoying the fresh air.

Black flinched at the sound of her voice, quickly looking over at her in surprise, “Y-Y/N??”

He had even more pronounced bags under his eyes than before, but that didn't stop him from quickly recovering.

“I’M AMAZED YOU’RE STILL AWAKE,” he grinned smugly at her as she struggled to climb up the leg of the coffee table, “I WOULD HAVE GUESSED YOU WOULD CURRENTLY BE FACE DOWN ON THE NEAREST SOFT SURFACE!”

Rolling her eyes, Y/n grinned smugly back, “And I was expecting you to be face down on the coffee table in a pool of your own drool.”

“HA!” Black leaned in closer to her, his purple eyelights flashing in challenge, “I’VE NEVER FELT MORE AWAKE!”

“For now.” She smirked back.

His smile fell and he leaned back, his expression thoughtful.

“WELL, I GUESS WE’LL SEE WHO LAST THE LONGEST TODAY, WON’T WE? OF COURSE, THIS MEANS I’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOU,” he smiled smugly down at her, “YOU KNOW, SO I CAN SEE THE MOMENT YOUR PITIFUL BODY GIVES IN TO THE SLIGHT EXHAUSTION?”

Rolling her eyes and knowing this thing could go on forever, Y/n chose instead to move in closer for a look at what he was doing.

“… Hey Black, are you drawing up new house designs?”

He tore them from the table, tripping Y/n as the sheet under her foot was ripped away. Glaring at him, Y/n rubbed her sore wrist that she had impulsively used to catch her fall. Black ignored her and her glares, already rolling up and placing the scraps of paper into his backpack close by.

“You know, you didn’t have to do that!” she snapped, sitting up, “You could just have told me to keep my nose out of your business!”

“YOU SHOULDN’T BE SPYING ON WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE!” he snapped back, hurriedly stuffing the last paper away to glare at her.

“I wasn’t ‘spying’, I was just curious! I don’t get why you’re bothering to keep it a secret; I’m going to see what the house looks like as you're building it!”

“WHO SAYS I’M EVER GOING TO INVITE YOU INSIDE!?” Black snapped.

“Weren’t you the one who said he wanted to go furniture shopping with me??”

Black gapped at her, before scowling, “TO WHICH YOU’D TOLD ME IT’D NEVER HAPPEN!”

“If you’re going to keep acting like a jerk, it’s not!” She stood up and the wall she had been keeping up that held back her absolute mystified confusion about him broke, “I really don’t get you Black, I just don’t! You don’t want me around, don’t want me looking at your plan or getting involved, fine! Then why insist on a shopping trip and get angry when I say no!? You act like you hate me, always insulting me and calling me ‘pet’, yet you get upset when I’m nice to the other people, who you also hate?? Then there was last night; why did you save me, why keep me around when I was going to bed and was about to leave you alone??”

She threw her arms open wide, “What the hell do you want??”

“NOTHING!” Black spat back, poking her in the chest with every sentence, “I DON’T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU! I DON’T WANT ANYTHING FROM ALL THESE WORTHLESS PILES OF BONES WHO LIVE HERE AND I CERTAINLY DON’T WANT OR NEED ANYTHING FROM ANYONE OR ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS STUPID PLANET!”

“everything okay in here?”

Y/n and Black turned away from glaring at each other to see Sans, Stretch and Red looking at them from the stair’s landing. While Red was glaring at Black and Stretch was looking around, curious, it was Sans who spoke up again, moving closer to her, “sounds like you two woke on the wrong side of the couch.”

“i’d say she looks pretty tired for someone who had a good night sleep,” Red scowled darkly at Black, who looked away as he folded his arms, “methinks the brat here kept her up all night.”

Mutt came in from the backyard, pocketing his smokes, “i’d say it was the pet who-“

“MUTT!” snapped Black, glaring at his brother, “BE SILENT!”

Mutt fell silent at once, falling to stand by his brother’s side, facing the others behind a mask of indifference.

Stretch smiled lazily over at him, “morning mutt. guess i missed my chance for a smoking partner.” He leaned casually on Red, who quickly shook him off, “red here still doesn’t smoke that often and really hates taking his time.”

“what’s the point of takin' half a year suckin’ one down?” he grumbled, stuff both hands into his jacket as he glowered, “just have the stupid thing and move on. light up two if ya that stressed.”

Stretch grinned over at Mutt, “see?”

Mutt merely shrugged, apparently indifferent.

Sans stood before Y/n, crouching down to her eye level on the coffee table, a wide smile on his skull, “so, how did your ‘spell’ go kiddo?”

She sighed heavily, jumping onto his offered hand as he lifted her to his shoulder, much to Black’s annoyance, “I don’t know what Papyrus expected to happen; I feel like I just made things worse, actually.”

“i’d say my brother’s confidence is well placed.” Sans said thoughtfully, turning to look at Black and Mutt. Still, he shrugged as he asked, “our bros will be back soon, either of you want a cup of coffee or something while we wait for breakfast?”

“WHY WOULD I WAIT FOR THOSE IDIOTS TO SHOW UP WHEN I AM HERE AND I AM THE GREATEST CHIEF I KNOW??” Black asked, standing pridefully.

“Because it’s not your turn.” Y/n insisted as Stretch and Red moved to get the coffee brewed.

“IT’LL NEVER BE MY TURN!” Black cried out, stamping his foot, “WITH THE EDGE LORD COOKING BREAKFAST, THE CHILD COOKING LUNCH AND THE CREAMPUFF COOKING DINNER, WHEN IS THERE TIME FOR ME TO COOK!!” He glared at her, “WHY DO I NEED TO ASK YOU PERMISSION FOR THIS ANYWAY?!?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll count that as a strike.” She glared at him, “And you tell me why you deserve a chance to cook when you haven't even had one meal in this house that someone else cooked?”

“YOU KEEP MAKING UP RULES!” Black cried, strolling forward, “I CAN’T COOK BECAUSE IT’S NOT MY TURN. I CAN’T COOK BECAUSE I REFUSE TO EAT GARBAGE! NEXT, YOU’LL BE TELLING ME THAT SINCE I MOVED IN LAST, I CAN’T COOK TILL THE END OF THE MONTH, AND THEN NOT AT ALL!”

“You want it simple? Fine.” She listed her points off on her fingers, “Only one person can cook in the kitchen at any given time, and I have to be there. You don’t get to cook if you refuse to eat other people’s meals and we rotate who’s cooking once a week so everyone gets a chance to cook every meal, which is when you’ll get a chance to cook. Oh, and for your information, these rules apply to everyone, so you can stop claim I’m picking on just you!”

Black and Y/n continued to glare at each other as Mutt stared on indifferent and Sans looked nervously between them. “all sorted out?” he asked, awkwardly.

Black barged passed him and headed into the kitchen, with Mutt following behind him. Y/n and Sans shared a look, before they both sighed.

Today was going to be just as long as yesterday.

~*~

By some miracle, Black had not gone into the kitchen to ignore everything Y/n had just said. Instead, he sat with his own cup of coffee at the dining room table, glaring into his cup as Mutt sat next to him, sipping from his, and both indifferent to the conversation happening at the other end.

For Y/n, it was nice to talk and joke with Sans, Stretch and Red again after what had to be close to half a week since they last had the opportunity. As Red pointed out to her, it had been that long since she and him last had a chance to work on the bike, and she quickly agreed to work on it with him later tonight, much to his delight and Black’s baffled confusion which quickly soured his already glum mood.

“Y/N! Y/N!!”

Blueberry calling out her name from the front yard ended the conversations as everyone turned just in time to see the front door slamming open with Blueberry running inside, waving a parcel around. Quickly, he rushed over and placed the parcel in front of her, beaming, as Papyrus and Edge soon stepped in from the front door.

“YOUR PARCEL IS FINALLY HERE Y/N!”

“Sweet!”

Already she had abanded her drink on her table and was eagerly rushing towards it. A quick check of the return address and Y/n was tearing into the parcel, all but certain she knew what this was. It was a struggle, made harder because her enthusiasm kept her from just taking her time instead of just tearing out chucks and stripes out of the parcel, but eventually…

“Ah ha!”

Happily, she crawled into the parcel, dragging out two packages containing her new bitty clothes, made for her size! Not only were they well made (unlike her own clothes, which were handmade and falling apart ever since she washed them in the clothes washer back in her house), but they were stylised, mostly comfortable and durable clothing, and with a few nice things in there for different occasions.

It-it had been a while since she had a wardrobe that required her having to think about what went with what, or had to worry about going out to outings at all, actually.

And shoes! She held up the few different pairs of shoes she had ordered in a different package, tearing it open and giggling as she quickly put on a pair of runners, stamping them on the table and marvelling how much softer her feet felt!

“Oh, I need socks!” She quickly dived back into the packaging, pulling out the last package.

“act-actually, kid, if-if you're going to get changed, maybe you should go back to your room?”

Hearing Sans’s voice distracted her from her own blush as the last package she pulled out contained her socks, bras and underwears. She was grateful that she would no longer have to use bandages to bind herself instead of regular underwear, but that didn’t stop her from hurridly pushing in the seethrough package filled with nothing but her new underwear back into the parcel.

Th-there were boys watching!!

Giggling through her blush at the immature thought, Y/n quickly stuffed all her packages back into the parcel, looking quickly up at Blueberry, “It-It’s your turn to cook breakfast, isn’t Blue?”

“IT’S THE EDGE LORD’S, REMEMBER.” Huffed a put-out Black.

Blueberry shook his head, point over at Papyrus, “ACTUALLY, IT’S PAPYRUS'S TURN.”

“SINCE WHEN?!” Black asked.

“SINCE TODAY!” Papyrus came happily over, holding his hand out for Y/n to climb on.

Y/n looked between the parcel and Papyrus as she walked onto his hand, conflicted, “Papyrus-“

He held out his hand, stopping her, before reaching over and grabbing the parcel with his other hand, before turning smoothly for the stairs, “YOU WANT TO CHANGE FIRST, THIS I UNDERSTAND. AFTER ALL, I KNOW ALL ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LOOK YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST, AND JUST HOW IMPORTANT CLOTHES ARE AT BOOSTING AN ALREADY AMAZING PERSON FURTHER!”

“I won’t be long,” she looked over at the parcel, quickly thinking of what she wanted to wear, “I'll just wear something simple and come right down. Shouldn’t take longer than two or three minutes, tops.”

“NONSENSE! I KNOW HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU JUST SLAPPING ON ANY RANDOM CLOTHES! IT’S IMPORTANT TO LOOK AND FEEL GOOD, LIKE I DO ALL THE TIME!” He grinned over at Blueberry and Edge, who were both nodding in agreement, “WE’LL HAVE TOAST AND CEREAL TODAY, I THINK. CAN I ASK YOU TWO TO HELP ORGANISE THAT WHILE I TAKE Y/N UPSTAIRS?”

Blueberry looked crushed while Edge narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Papyrus, but both nodded and moved into the kitchen, already arguing who was going to do what. Sighing, Stretch stood up with his cup of coffee and followed them.

Before Stretch had made it into the kitchen, however, Y/n ran up Papyrus’s arm and threw herself to the side of his skull, hugging and nuzzling him even as he started blushing.

“Thank you Papyrus! You really are the greatest!”

While Papyrus laughed his “NYEH HEH HE!” through his blush, Red leaned in towards Sans, shocked, “since when has papyrus been a such a smooth operator??”

Sans could only grin smugly at Red with an all-knowing smile.

~*~

Half an hour later, Papyrus came back downstairs, covering Y/n between his gloved hands.

She still felt silly and really awkward in her new clothes, but Papyrus had instead she looked ‘CUTER THAN ANY BUTTON’, which had not helped her blush or feeling any less awkward. She hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of this; she was just changing clothes, why make that into a big deal? But Papyrus had insisted, and after he had given her his puppy dog eyes and he praised and reassured her she was absolutely stunning in her new clothes, she had agreed to let him do whatever he wanted, if he would please stop complimenting her!

With his cry of “NEVER!”, Papyrus had carried her downstairs, and was now clearing his voice, getting everyone’s attention.

“EVERYONE! I PRESENT YOU Y/N, AND HER NEW CLOTHES!”

Papyrus took his hand away, obviously expecting her to stand up and twirl or something, but she remained sitting, and it was only when Papyrus poked her a few time she turned around, rubbing her arm shyly as she blushed. She couldn’t even look up, so instead she toyed with the groves on Papyrus’s gloves.

She didn’t get why this was such a big deal; she was wearing what she basically wore before she became a bitty. For her personally, having these clothes and shoes again made her feel a bit like she had before her whole world shrank and the only clothing she had weren’t tailored for a human figure, which meant almost everything she wore looked like a box on her. It had felt nice going through her new clothing, actually um-ing and ar-ing as she thought about what she wanted to wear, and she’d be lying if having proper clothes made her feel more….civilised and less apocalyptic.

When no one said anything and when it felt like forever, she looked up before looking quickly back down.

The whole room was filled with glowing, blushing skeletal cheekbones, many of whom had their mouths open, staring at her.

She was about two seconds from jumping off and heading for a vent or something when Blueberry cried out, “WOWIE! YOU LOOK REALLY, REALLY PRETTY Y/N!”

Y/n hide her blushing face in one hand.

“NO! DON’T HIDE Y/N!” Papyrus was stroking her back, his voice a lot closer now, “YOU LOOK REALLY NICE IN YOUR OUTFIT!”

“you’re cuter than any button.” Stretch said with a soft smile in his voice.

“Papyrus already beat you to that one!” she cried out, embarrassed.

He snickered, “can’t help it if we both have great taste, honey.”

“i still say you looked better in your bikini, baby doll,” Red’s voice turned away as he mumbled, “but then, you look great in anythin'.”

“what was that red?” Sans asked, a teasing note in his voice.

“shut your face hole, that’s what!”

Sans snickered, before adding, “you do look really good in your outfit y/n, and it does suit you.”

“Was that a pun?” Papyrus asked, distrusting suspicion in his voice.

“just saying how much happier y/n looks paps, which is always a good look for anyone…..but i’d be lying if i didn’t admit that the blush might suit her just a bit better.”

“nothing to add edge?” Stretch asked as Y/n blushed harder.

“N-NO!”

“then why are you blushing?”

Y/n looked quickly up to see Edge diving behind a newspaper at the end of the table, the barest hint of two red glows bleeding through the paper.

“Are-are you blushing??” she asked in disbelief.

Edge moved the newspaper even higher, “NO! YOU’RE BLUSHING!”

“I am not!” she blushed, hiding her face in denial.

“YOU’RE BOTH BLUSHING LIKE IDIOTS!” Black stood up, glaring around the table, “ALL OF YOU ARE BLUSHING LIKE IDIOTS! AND OVER WHAT; THE PET IN HER NEW OUTFIT?? SO WHAT?!”

“BUT BLACK,” Blueberry began to point out, “YOU’RE BLUSHING-“

Black summoned, rushed forward and pointed the end of his sharp bone weapon at Blueberry’s neck, “TELL MORE LIES ABOUT ME AND IT WILL BE THE LAST THING YOU EVER DO!”

Before any of the skeletons could decide what they were going to do, Y/n lept for the table, lading on the bone weapon and forcing it down before pushing it off to the side. Angrily, she glared up at Black, “Strike two! Housemates are not allowed to threaten violence against each other, ever!”

Black glared at her, before his eyes looked her up and down. A slight purple glow lit up his cheeks, causing him to sit back quickly, pouting as he looked hurriedly away.

Sighing, she turned to Blueberry, “You okay Blueberry?”

Blueberry had literal stars in his eyes, and it took her a while of waving her hand backwards and forwards in front of him before he cried out, “YOU DID THAT FOR ME??”

“Of course,-”

She didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence before Blueberry had picked her up and was smooshing her to the side of his cheek, nuzzling her.

“Blue!” she playfully scolded.

“OH! SORRY!” he brought her away from his cheek to raise her to his star eye lights, “IT’S JUST HEARING THAT YOU CARE ABOUT ME THAT MUCH REALLY, REALLY MAKES ME HAPPY!”

“Of course I care about you!” she laughed, standing up in his hand and patting his cheek, “I wasn’t about to let you get skewered without a fight.”

“OH, I WAS FINE! BLACK’S NEVER HURT ME BEFORE!” Blueberry beamed, grinning over at Black, “RIGHT BLACK?”

“THERE’S ALWAYS A FIRST, CHILD!” Black snapped, staring determinedly away.

“SEE?”

“Yeah, well, I still think that should be a house rule. Really didn’t think I needed to say ‘No violence or threats of violence against each other’, but here we are.”

“WHAT ABOUT DUELS?” Edge asked, putting down his newspaper to serve himself toast.

“As long as it’s not to the death and someone is referencing, I guess that’s the exception to the rule.”

While Edge nodded thoughtfully with Papyrus and Blueberry looking eagerly at each other, Black spoke up “WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME BREAKS ALL THESE RULES YOUR FORCING ON US?” He glared at her, “OR IS THERE SOME DOUBLE STANDARD YOU’LL INSIST ISN’T THE CASE?”

Walking over to her table for breakfast, Y/n replied, “You know, I’ve only insisted on these rules since you’ve been here. There hasn’t been a need to just state outright, ‘threatening each other isn’t allowed.’”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE Y/N.” Papyrus said, pouring himself some cereal, “REMEMBER WHEN EDGE WAS TRYING TO KILL YOU? A RULE LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY HANDY BACK THEN!”

Black looked over at an indifferent Edge in surprise, “THE EDGE LORD TRIED AND FAILED AT KILLING YOU?”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly under the most friendly of circumstances that everyone moved in,” Y/n admitted reluctantly as Edge glared at Black, “And I doubt that if I started making rules like that they would have been followed. Besides, back then, I was trying to get you all out, not establishing rules so that we could live together peacefully.”

Black looked directly at her, disbelieving “AND YOU STILL INSIST THAT YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH THE SKELETON THAT TRIED TO KILL YOU??”

“I am now.” She nodded.

“HOW IS THAT NOT A DOUBLE STANDARD??” Black quickly stood up, gesturing at her, “I’VE NEVER TRIED KILLING YOU! NOT ONCE!”

“What do you call the thing that happened on the first night?” she asked, standing up too, “The thing with the dog-skull creature and the fall?”

“I WASN’T TRYING TO KILL YOU! I WAS JUST TRYING TO CAPTURE YOU!”

“Oh.” She let her hand pointing at him fall.

Yeah, okay, now that she thought back on it, if he wanted to kill her, she already knew the dog-skull things could fire death-lasers and she didn’t like her chances of surviving such a blast. That wasn’t to say that if he had managed to get her she would have survived long in his grasp, but it was also possible he wouldn’t have done anything.

It was all conjecture at this point anyway, and not really helpful to wonder what might have happened.

Black wasn’t finished yet, as he sat back down and pouted bitterly, “HOW IS HE YOUR FRIEND YET I’M NOT??”

“Did-did you want to be my friend?” she asked in disbelief, a hand pointing to herself.

Black and Y/n started at each other, each gobsmacked, before Black picked up his bit of toast, hastily stuffed it into his mouth, and carried his own empty plate and cup into the kitchen. After the sound of rushed washing and scrubbing, Black made a beeline for the living room, his head down.

While everyone else looked around at each other in confusion, Mutt merely ate on, quietly sipping from his cup.

~*~

Breakfast ended on a confusing note, but it was an improvement on yesterday, so Y/n was inclined to count that as a win. Black and Mutt had claimed the living room as their private room, and Black was quick to snap at anyone (mainly Papyrus, Blueberry and Y/n herself) who entered it. From what she could tell, he was working on his house plans again, and if he was in there, he wasn’t trying to pick fights with anyone else, so she was inclined to encourage everyone else away.

Although, she hadn’t needed bother; between washing up after breakfast and Stretch announcing that the paints ordered yesterday to repaint the walls after they were plastered yesterday was ready for pick up, everyone was busy.

She did find it funny that she had just changed clothes but soon would be back out of them if she didn’t want paint on her new ones not an hour later. Of course, she had insisted she be allowed to help and refused to take no for an answer, so it was, when Red and Stretch came back carrying paint buckets and brushes, the smallest one went to her.

It was still comically too large for her to use it as a paintbrush and was closer to a broom for her, but separating the metal paint brush head from its wooden pole, and Y/n found she had a rather handy paintbrush glove.

What became apparent, after the first coat over the patched plaster spots in odd intervals around the walls, was the Stretch and Red hadn’t taken into consideration that paints normally dried into a darker shade. Now, instead of having random sections of white, they had random sections of dark splotches. The decision to just repaint the walls was made, and now she and her friends were spaced around the room and outside, painting the walls

“IF YOU IDIOTS HAD TAKEN JUST A FEW SECONDS TO THINK ABOUT THIS PROPERLY, WE WOULD BE DONE RIGHT NOW!” growled Edge, painting the highest part of the wall next to Papyrus.

“Come on Edge,” Y/n grinned, running along the base of the wall as she tried not painting the wall’s guard, “I don’t know about you, but I’m actually having fun, believe it or not.”

“I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE NOT!” He glared down at her, watching her run past his oldest, most worn out boots, “ALTHOUGH, PERHAPS YOU ARE. AFTER ALL, IT’S EASY TO HAVE FUN WHEN YOU’RE JUST RUNNING AROUND!”

She glared up at his smug smile, subtly taking off her glove paint brush and painting her hand behind her back.

“You wanna try saying that that down here Edge?”

He looked taken aback, but then he was quickly stooping, shoving his face in hers, “I SAID-“

“Boop!” she giggled, high-fiving his forehead with her painted hand.

Edge quickly pulled his head back, gaping at her, “D-DID YOU JUST SLAP MY FOREHEAD??”

“I high fived you.” she corrected, trying not to giggle that he hadn’t noticed the paint yet.

Still, it was very hard not to smile, what with a perfect bitty handprint right between his narrowed eyes.

Hoping to distract and rather enjoying herself and the challenge of seeing just how many skeletons she could tag now, she painted her hand behind her back again and called out, “Hey Papyrus? High five?”

Papyrus quickly placed his brush into the paint bucket, before crouching down and holding his hand out, hopefully. Grinning, she ran over to it, jumping high to smack his palm as hard as she could. There was a very satisfying *Slap!* as Y/n landed at his oldest pair of boots before she turned to grin up at his beaming skull.

“EXCELLENT JUMP!” Papyrus called out, giving her a thumbs up.

She gladly returned the thumbs up, before back away, “If it’s okay with you two, I’m going to help the others outside for a while, okay?”

“SURE THING!” Papyrus beamed, standing up as Edge huffed and returned to painting.

She was just passing Stretch sitting crossed legged on the floor and lazily painting when she heard Papyrus ask, “HEY EDGE, WHY DO YOU HAVE A TINY HANDPRINT ON YOUR FOREHEAD?”

Y/n ran for it, diving into the outside bushes just as Edge screamed, “PEST!!”

She was covering her mouth with her non-painted hand when Edge’s old boots came standing on the outside landing.

Sans’s voice called out, “hey edge, i _dot_ see what you’re doing out here; as long as you have a paintbrush, surely you can _handle_ anything y/n does to you _easel_ -ly?”

Edge, apparently, ignored him in favour of crying out, “I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE Y/N!”, before muttering threats under his breath, passing by a chuckling Stretch as he walked back inside.

Snorting, she continued to make her way towards Sans voice through the bushes, listening to him chuckle as he said to Red, “your brother sure has a _tone_ in his voice.”

Red chuckled quietly, “i’m always tellin' him he should take it easy. he’ll have a _stroke_ if he’s not careful.”

“PUT A LID ON IT, YOU TWO!” Blueberry snapped, tossing his paintbrush down, “I CAN’T STAND ANOTHER PAINT PUN FROM EITHER OF YOU! NOT ONE MORE! THE WHOLE MORNING, AND ALL I KEEP THINKING IS WHY ME?!”

Y/n was still making her way towards Sans when she saw Red moving to throw an arm around the frustrated Blueberry, “aw but blue? you do realise that you just punned too, right?”

“I DID NOT!”

“yeah you did.” Red kicked a nearby can of paint, “’put a _lid_ on it’?”

There was a moment of stunned silence as Blueberry gazed in horror at two smug skeletons facing him.

“NO!” Blueberry fell to his knees, crying to the heavens, “NOOOOOOOO!”

“i can’t- _vas_ believe it either.” Red grinned as Sans snickered, “got to say, i’m actually proud of ya blue.”

“I FEEL NOTHING BUT SHAME!” Blueberry cried out, burying his face in his hands.

“aw, but it was a compliment blue, yer makin' me feel bad here.” Red beamed, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Blueberry quickly looked up at Red and yelled, “THANK YOU!”, before reburying his face back into his hands.

“Hey, check it out!” Y/n grinned, stepping away from behind Sans’s leg and over towards Red and Blueberry as she repainted her hand behind her back, “Complimenting colours!”

Both Sans and Red started roaring in laughter as Blueberry toppled over to his side, curling into a fetal position as he continued to hide his face in both hands.

Still smiling, but feeling kind of bad for the guy, Y/n leapt for his shoulder, awkwardly climbing up the last few inches up with a painted hand and a paint brush on the other, trying to keep from painting his front.

No, she was saving her paint for his back, where she was currently patting him on his shoulder blade over and over again.

“It’s okay Blue, it’s okay. I’m sure no one will even remember this in a day or two-“

“im’a going to make sure i never forget this day!” Red gleefully swore.

“-so why don’t you stop looking so blue?”

Blueberry pulled his hands away from his face to gape at her, “REALLY Y/N?? IN MY LOWEST HOUR?? I’VE ALREADY HEARD THAT ONE LIKE A MILLION TIMES ALREADY!”

Y/n shrugged, grinning down at him, “So should I sit here and think of new ones or should we get back to painting?”

“I’LL PAINT! I’LL PAINT!”

In a flash, he was back on his feet, toppling Y/n off his shoulder as he jumped to stand up. With amazing hand-eye coordination, he managed to catch her, grinning down at her as she lay on the palm of his hand, still somewhat stunned.

“FALLING FOR ME ALREADY Y/N?” He posed cheekily, still somewhat recovering from his recent flustering, “I KNOW I AM A VERY HANDSOME SKELETON, AFTER ALL.”

“….was that another pun?” Sans asked as both he and Red ginned smugly at him.

Blueberry blushed, puffing out his cheeks as he glared up at them, “NO!”

Giggling, Y/n sat up and readjusted her paint glove, “It’s okay. Seems today might be the day we discover that Blueberry secretly likes puns.”

“I DO NOT!”

Snickering, she held her hand out towards Red, “What do you say Red? What to take me off Blue’s hands so he can start punning in peace?”

As Blueberry pouted and Sans continued to snicker playfully, Red snorted and gave her a condescending smile, “why, so you can tag me like you did to boss, blue and sans?”

While Sans looked down at himself in surprise, Blueberry defended her non-existent honour, “Y/N WOULD NEVER DO THAT WITHOUT REASON! I’M SURE EDGE WAS BEING RUDE TO HER AND THAT’S WHY SHE TAGGED HIM. SHE WOULDN’T TAG US FOR NO REASON!”

“you think so blue?” Red smirked playfully, twirling his finger at Blueberry, “check your clothes before you start claimin' our little prankster is so innocent.” He grinned over at her, “am i right y/n?”

“I may or may not be keeping track on how many points I can get with every tag,” she said, grinning when Blueberry pulled his shirt down and saw the painted handprints with an indigent cry out of “HEY!” and Sans spotted the handprint at the back of his ankle bone with a quiet chuckle, “But it’s not like Edge didn’t deserve it first!”

“i’m sure he did.” Red leaned forward, “but you’re going to have to try much harder than that if you want to get to me.”

“You think so Red?” she grinned right back, challenging, “well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone just basically said, “Come at me!”.”

He snapped his teeth together, smug, “bro.”

“Oh, challenge accepted!”

Leaping off Blueberry’s hand, Y/n watched how Red kept his eyes locked on her, moving to keep the distance between them consistent. Snickering, she dived back into the bushes and made her way back to the landing, thinking. Remembering the one truth about people and sure that it would apply to skeletons who had done messed up, Y/n grinned and made some quick preparations.

Once that was done, she just needed a certain skeleton.

“Stretch! I need you-“

“forget it y/n, i know all about the ‘scoring points with tags’ game you’ve got going on.” He leaned around the front door grinning at her, “don’t think that i haven’t realised that it applies to me too.”

“Come on Stretch, I just need someone to help me get to up there.” She pointed to the window ledge.

Coming outside to see where she was pointing, Stretch looked up, smiling lazily, “you thinking of some sort of dive bomb attack?”

She grinned, “Something like that. So will you help me?”

He seemed to consider it, before snapping his fingers, whereupon a small dog-skull creature appeared from thin air, coming down and towards her. It looked different from Edge’s; fewer scars, cracks and a warm, honey orange glow for eye lights instead of being red. As the creature came towards her, it seemed to her it was smirking, before knocking her over gently in a playful nudge. Before she could pick herself up, the creature settled on her stomach, squatting on her with what sounded like deep rumbling chuckles coming from within it.

“Hey!” she giggled, trying to push in off her, “Get’off me!”

The creature only settled in deeper, nuzzling down.

“okay, okay, that’s enough of that.” Stretch lazily used his foot to shoe the creature off her, forcing the creature to behave itself. Once she was standing, Stretch pointed to the creature, “hope on honey and hold on tight.”

Grinning, Y/n climbed onto the creature, holding on tightly to its horns with one hand, the other still holding her gloves paint brush.

“ThaAhaannkksss-Hey!”

The moment she was on, the creature rose sharply up, forcing her flat as the pressure hit her. When she was eye level with a chuckling Stretch, the creature slowed down, also chuckling. She could only glare at the smug skeleton, knowing she would have the last laugh when Stretch realised he had just stepped on her wet hand print she had purposefully left on the landing for him. She had seen her handprint on the bottom of his shoe when he shooed the skull thing off her.

Once she was next to window ledge, Y/n hopped off and watched at the creature actually winked at her before popping out of existence. Still somewhat surprised, she looked back down, but saw that Stretch was already back inside.

With so many questions she wanted to ask about those dog-skull creatures, including what they were called or if they even had names, she looked away and over toward’s Red’s direction below her. He had moved since she had asked about coming to this particular ledge, and now she would have to leap across to the next window sill.

 _‘Good thing bitties have amazing jump.’_ She thought, backing up and making a running leap for it.

It was a close thing, made even more scare with knowing just how high she was. Not that she needed to be mortally afraid; she, and by extension, most other bitties could easily survive hights like this. Didn’t stop bones from snapping or it hurting an awful lot, but comparing her strength, her jumping distance and fall damaged to her old self and it was a rough estimation to say everything had been timesed by three. Three times strength, three times jumping distance and three times the height she could fall without fearing injury.

Power of being small and all that.

After making it across the window ledges, she took a moment to collect her breath and nerves, before looking down to spy on her target and prepare.

“y/n’s been gone for a while.” Red muttered to himself in suspicion.

“how do you know she hasn’t already gotten you?” Sans asked as the pair continued to paint.

Red scoffed, “unlike you unobservant idiots, i know she hasn’t got me yet. no, she’s plannin' somethin' and now i’ve gotta keep my eyes peeled on every dark shadow and you guys.”

“us?”

“yeah, don’t think i didn’t see the ashtray come out to only go back inside; she’s not above recruitin' you guys and you’re not above agreein' to do shit for -.”

*Splat!*

People, and as it appeared skeletons, never looked up.

After landing on top of Red’s skull, facedown, Y/n quickly leapt off and dived for the bushes, leaving behind a near-perfect image of a big smiley face on Red’s skull, courtesy of the one she painted on her own raggy shirt.

Red was still trying to figure out what had happened to him, what had hit him and what Sans was laughing about. By the time he had figured out what had happened, Y/n was already back inside, plotting on how to get Edge this time as Red swore dark vengeance.

~*~

And so it went.  Y/n and the skeletons had fun passing the morning painting both the walls and each other. When Stretch had managed to tag her with his paintbrush when she had been backing up, laughing at the smile now on Edge’s boot, he had opened the floodgates that saw Y/n swearing revenge and vowing it would never happen again, as the guys then started tagging each other.

Only it did.

At least every skeleton had managed to tag her once by the time the walls were painted and lunchtime had come around.

Still, she was rather happy with how many times she got them back. By far, the skeletons she had managed to tag the most were Papyrus and Blueberry, if only because they couldn’t help themselves and allow her to approach them with promises of hugs. Edge was her favourite target, but that was only because it felt like he was her personal arch villain. Well, him and Red. Sans and Stretch were both so crafty, and eager to prove to her that she couldn’t so easily tag them, even when she was sure she was about to. They had amazing dodging skills, and were too good at playing the part on unaware victims till the last second, where the tables were quickly flipped on her and it was she who was left with a new paint splotch on her clothes instead.

Black and Mutt came out and sat at the dining room table towards the end to watch them when the walls were done but Y/n and the guys were still trying to tag each other. It ended in a standoff in the front yard before Sans called it quits and to tally the marks.

Every one scowled and laughed at all the places they hadn’t noticed, with particular pride someone would tell someones else to "Check the bottom of your shoe!" or "CHECK YOUR ARMPIT!". She thought she might have caught Black checking himself for paint at one point, although, she didn’t know if that explained the scowl and look of disappointment on his face. No one had wanted to upset him or Mutt, so neither of them had been tagged by anyone.

At least Black didn’t interrupt Edge when he was cooking lunch, after everyone had changed out of their paint-covered clothes. He was just sat at the small kitchen table, glaring at the pair as they resumed their friendly rivalry that was pretty standard for these cooking sessions. Edge refused to acknowledge Black’s existence and after she made sure that it looked like Black was going to just sit there and say nothing, she quickly focused her attention on Edge and his improving skills. She didn’t say anything, but after running around tagging the guys and with no sleep from last night, she was finding herself actually tired. Sneaking a glance at Black, she thought she might not be the only one, actually.

Lunch was served, and it seemed that Black was actually settling down, eating without complaint or fuss. She couldn’t decide if he had taken to heart about what she said about him participating in meals if he wanted a chance at cooking them, but if he could keep this up, she’d happily stand up for his right to cook a meal every now and then.

She laughed quietly to herself at the table as everyone else ate and talked; there was no way he could be worse than the other three.

After lunch, however, he hadn’t helped clear up the table or helped with any dish not his own or his brother’s. Instead, he had hurriedly washed and dried the two plates before storming off to the living room first, leaving the table with his brother as everyone finished eating and lagged behind for conversation. While rude, Y/n considered the fact that today, so far, nothing had broken and there hadn’t been a yelling match that saw someone storming off, so she was inclined to count this as a small victory, even if she wished the Black and Mutt’s leaving the table didn’t kill the mood to sit back and happily chat with everyone else.

Still, after the dishes were done, Black and Mutt were in the living room waiting for them, with Black waiting impatiently and Mutt indifferent to the whole thing.

“WE’RE WORKING ON THE FOUNDATION, STRUCTURE AND FRAME TODAY.” Black said, before turning on his heel and walking outside, with Mutt behind him.

“Right.” She sighed from Sans’s shoulder, feeling tired and full. She looked over at Red and Edge, “Are you two going to help today from the get go or do you plan to find something else to do?”

“WHY SHOULD WE HELP HIM?” Edge asked with a snide tone in his voice.

“Because it would be a nice thing to do?” she yawned, “And the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can do something else and I can go for a quick nap?”

That last one had been more of a slip of the tongue than an actual reason she thought either would care about, so it was a bit of a surprise when both had grumbled but followed none the less as everyone else made their way out and over to Black and Mutt.

“IF ONLY TO MAKE SURE THEIR HOUSE IS BUILT CORRECTLY!” Edge stated, folding his arms as he walked over to new house's construction site, “THE LAST THING I WANT IS TO HEAR IS THAT THEIR HOUSE HAS CAVED IN AND THEY’LL BE SPENDING EVEN MORE TIME IN OURS IN THE NEAR FUTURE!”

“I’m sure that’s not going to happen.” She argued, leaning against Sans’s skull and eyeing his hoodie’s hood, seriously considering rolling over into it for a nap.

“OF COURSE THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” Black snapped at Edge, meeting his glare, “JUST BECAUSE YOUR PITIFUL TRAPS BASICALLY FELL APART WHEN I APPROACHED THEM!”

“Okay Black!” Y/n said, overriding Edge’s retort, “How about just bragging, you show us what you’ve got?”

Black looked smugly over at the enraged Edge, before his eyes focused on her lounge position.

Then he was even smugger, “I SEE THAT SOMEONE IS STRUGGLING TO STAY AWAKE!”

She waved a hand towards him, “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine for another hour, maybe.”

“I WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU!”

Grinning, she pushed herself up, looking around at the land since she had last seen it.

There was a strong smell of freshly turned soil and most of the land was still open, with clear signs that trees had recently been torn from the ground (which they had, strangely enough). The trees in question had been placed into a neat pile, smoothed into perfect logs. A pile of building supplies rested just near to them with Papyrus and Blueberry already looking over them, their expressions thought full as Mutt stood next to them, indifferent. Everyone else was standing in front of Black and his new plans skewered through with a bone coming from the ground, holding the plans up for all to see.

After looking at them and seeing that they looked somewhat acceptable (assuming the scale wasn’t blown to outlandish proportions), Y/n settled back against Sans’s skull and waited with everyone else for Black to say something.

Black looked at her, like he was expecting her to say something. When she lazily gave him the thumbs up, he huffed and pointed to his designs, “WELL, OBVIOUSLY, THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO DO IS LAY OUT THE FOUNDATION.”

He turned to the cleared site, raising his hands.

Bones appeared low to the ground, marking out a large, but acceptable, house foundation.

“WE’LL NEED TO DIG OUT THE LAND ABOUT A METER DEEP AND THEN MIX THESE BAGS OF CEMENT. BETWEEN THE CEMENT AND EMBEDED WOODEN PILLARS IN MARKED, KEY LOCATION, THAT SHOULD GIVE THE HOUSE MORE THAN ENOUGH SUPPORT, OBVIOUSLY.”

“sounds like a plan.” Sans waved to himself, Stretch and Red, “we’ll get some stuff from the workshop while you guys get started on digging.”

“TYPICAL.” Edge said with an eye roll.

Grinning, Sans turned and walked away with Stretch and Red.

Y/n, meanwhile, sat back and watched Papyrus and Blueberry comes over to Black’s marked out foundation.

“HEY BLACK, IF THIS IS YOUR KITCHEN, THEN WHY DON’T YOU HAVE THE LIVING ROOM BE HERE?” Papyrus asked, pointing to certain patches in the ground.

“IT IS THERE!” Black snapped, folding his arms.

“BUT THIS LIVING ROOM IS FAR TOO SMALL!”

Before Black could reply, Blueberry walked over to his blueprints, “THAT'S BECAUSE THE LIVING AND DINING ROOM RUN INTO EACH OTHER!” Blueberry pointed to the blueprints, “IF YOU’RE GOING TO TRY AND SAVE SPACE LIKE THAT, THEN YOU SHOULD REALLY COMBINE THE KITCHEN AND DINING ROOMS!”

“Excuse me guys.” Y/n said, leaping off Sans’s shoulder and running back towards them as fast as she could.

As she neared, Edge was adding in his two cents as he looked over the plan with a thoughtful expression, “I THINK ANY SENSIBLE MONSTER WOULD CUT THIS ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY VENTILATION SYSTEM AND MAKE THE WALLS THINNER. YOU’D BE AMAZED HOW MUCH SPACE YOU’LL SAVE.”

“I think you should all leave Black alone and just do what he’s asked.”

Black looked up from glaring at the ground to look over at her in surprise, and he wasn’t the only one.

“WE WERE JUST TRYING TO HELP HIM BUILD THE VERY BEST HOUSE POSSIBLE!” Papyrus defended.

“Did he ask any of you for your opinion?” She asked, looking around at all of them.

Papyrus and Blueberry dropped their heads while Edge glared on.

Sighing, she continued, “Look, I know you mean well, but I know Black has been working really hard to modify his plans since yesterday.” She looked over at him, realising something, “Actually, you’ve been working on them all morning, right? When we were painting?”

Still surprised, Black nodded.

Returning the nod, she looked back at the other three, “Can’t say I understand exactly what’s he’s planned, but assuming the outline of the house currently marked is as big as the house gets, then I’m going to say I’m happy to have Black build this, however he sees fit.”

“YEAH! AND I DID NOT WANT ANY OF YOUR OPINIONS!” Black cried out, smirking at them.

Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge looked between Black and Y/n, in surprise. Without another word, Edge turned to the outline, his eyes blazing with red magic as he made slashing movements through the air. Nothing appeared to have happened, but when he raised his hands up, whole segments of dirt lifted with his hand motions, floating away before getting dumped onto a pile off to the side.

“THERE!” he snapped, dusting off his hands as magic faded from his eyes as he moved to lean against the nearby tree. He glanced over at Y/n’s direction but quickly wound up scowling when he saw that she was busy talking to Black, who was scowling down at her.

“WHY DID YOU INTERFERE LIKE THAT?” He glared away, and ignoring Papyrus and Blueberry who were tidying up Edge’s efforts, “I DID NOT NEED YOUR HELP!”

“I didn’t say that you did.” She replied, coolly, “But they were wrong to suggest improvements just when we’re about to build. Although,” she looked seriously up at him, “It wouldn’t hurt your plans if you listened to their suggestions. See if you can’t improve on what you’ve already got. I was there when they were planning out the different workout things around the yard, and I know they'll have some really good and interesting suggestions for you.”

“SO YOU ARE TELLING ME I SHOULD LET THEM INTERFERE!”

“I’m saying you only really get once chance to do this right the first time.” She shrugged, “Up to you if you want to get started today or not.”

He continued to glare at her, before looking away to snap at the others, “WELL?! IS THAT FOUNDATION DUG OUT ALREADY OR WHAT??”

~*~

Working under Black’s instructions was a thankless, joyless task. From digging deep holes just for the key support pillars, to pouring in the foundation cement, Black was never satisfied with anyone else’s work and quick to criticize. He especially didn’t appreciate it when Y/n tried making the mood lighter when she teasingly threatened Papyrus’s hard work smoothing out the cement by pretending she could hear Blueberry calling her from opposite side of the house and how she was ‘just going to quickly walk across’. After getting yelled at and sworn with ‘BLOODY’ vengeance if she did that by Black, Y/n had stuck her tongue at his retreating back and had written ‘Suck it Brat!’ in the quickly drying cement instead.

She hadn’t thought they would get much done today due to the time it took cement to dry, but as she struggled to pull the dry pieces from around her fingernails, she discovered that the guys had gotten some sort of special quick-drying cement. Part of her wondered if it was special ‘monster’ blend that allowed the cement to dry so quickly……or, maybe she didn’t know anything about cement, which wouldn’t surprise her.

Either way, she was left feeling useless as the guys had to work together to erect the wall frames, the second floor and at last, the roof beams, with Black constantly making sure everything was perfectly aligned, levelled and spaced. There wasn’t much a bitty could do with this sort of construction, not when manually powered tools were too weak to properly complete vital key support structures. Mostly, she tried keeping out of everyone’s way, walking around on the flat cement slab and watching the house getting built around her. Normally, she might have considered going around and giving everyone a hard time, but between growing tired and not wanting Black to feel like everyone else wasn’t taking this seriously, Y/n decided it was just easier to do nothing and get this over with, in the name of peace and trying to get along with him. Instead, she was left to think about what she could do with the guys when this was all done, suffering through vague echoes of her boredom she used to have, day in and day out, during the old days before her house was filled with bones and Sara wasn’t dragging hapless victims through her house.

When the last roof beam was hammered into place, the skeletons split into two groups, with Sans, Red, Papyrus and Edge working together to cut out and hammer in a moisture barrier for the roof before tiling it over with shingles, while Stretch, Mutt, Blueberry and Black worked on building the stairs and the flooring for the second floor.

It was amazing how quickly the wood was cut into the right pieces when those dog skull things got involved.

At last, as the sun was starting to set, the house was built enough to actually look like one; a shelter that wouldn’t keep the wind out because the walls were still just frames, but would keep the rain off their heads.

“What’s left to do?” Y/n asked, sitting on Blueberry’s shoulder.

Black took his blueprints away from his bone stand and the bone quickly disappearing as he listed off, “PLUMBING, INSULATION, WIRING, DRYWALL INSTALLATION, PLASTERING, PAINTING, FLOORINGS, THEN INSTALLING WINDOWS, DOORS, KITCHEN AND BATHROOM APPLIANCES AND THEN THE FURNISHINGS.” He looked over at her, “I’LL HAVE MUTT GO OUT TOMORROW MORNING AND GET A LOT OF THIS STUFF WHILE WE, AND BY WE, I MEAN EVERYONE BUT YOU-“ she narrowed her eyes at him, “TIDY THE ROOF AND THE SECOND FLOORS. THERE’S STILL THE RAILING TO DO AND I KNOW I SAW SOME SPOTS MISSED ON THE ROOF.”

“No way that’s all getting done tomorrow.” She said flatly.

Edge scoffed at her, “OF COURSES THAT’S NOT GETTING DONE IN JUST ONE DAY! IT TAKES ANYWHERE CLOSE TO A WEEK TO DO WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE, AND BUILDING THE HOUSE CAN EASILY TAKE A WHOLE MONTH!”

“So it’s really impressive that you’ve guys have managed what you have.” She grinned around at them, noticing how tired they were now that they were relaxing, walking back to the house, “How about we have takeaway tonight and either have a movie night or play a game of cards?”

“AWW!” complained Blueberry as everyone peeked up at the idea (everyone except Black and Mutt.), “BUT IT’S MY TURN TO COOK DINNER TONIGHT!”

Y/n stroked the side of his cheek, “I know, but have a look around Blueberry, everyone’s about one comfy chair away from falling asleep.”

“SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!” Black grinned, his confident smirk at odds with the bags under his eyes.

Rolling her eyes, she continued talking to Blueberry, “It’s not like we won’t have a chance to cook again later during the week.”

“WHICH YOU’VE CONVENIENTLY LEFT ME OUT OF!” Black snapped bitterly.

She turned to face Black, reaching out to him, imploringly, “Come on, I didn’t even know you existed till just a few days ago Black. And after yesterday, I sure didn’t know if you were capable of being nice and actually participating in meals.”

“SO THE END AND SHORT OF IT IS I DON’T GET TO COOK ANY MEALS? IS THIS PART OF ‘BEING A PART OF WHAT GOES ON HERE’ YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT?! LIKE THIS MORNING??”

She sighed heavily, rubbing her face tiredly, “Please Black, let’s not fight. Everyone’s tired and-“

“DON’T FIGHT?? THE WHOLE WORLD HAS BEEN FIGHTING ME FROM THE MOMENT I WAS BORN! ESPECIALLY YOU!”

Black pointed a finger at her as everyone turned to face him, “YOU’RE A HYPOCRITE! A SELF-IMPORTANT HYPOCRITE PLAYING THE PART OF THE INNOCENT VICTIM AS EVERYONE BLAMES ME FOR REACTING TO YOUR BIASED DECISIONS!!” He glared at the rest of them as Mutt came to stand by his side, “AS LONG AS I’M FORCED ONTO YOUR STUPID COUCHES, I ABSOLUTELY FORBID ANY OF YOU FOR SITTING AND ESPECIALLY EATING ON MY ‘BED’, SO YOU CAN FORGET YOUR IDIOTIC MOVIE NIGHT!!”

He turned and marched back to his still-being-built house, as Mutt sighed and lit up another dog treat.

~*~

After Black’s second storming off in just two days, the decision to just get takeaway was made without much resistance. Even Blueberry looked exhausted from the constant fighting, even as he tried to deny it and insisted he was more than capable of cooking tonight.

What had ultimately won him over was the prospect of binging themselves on potato chips, lollies and soft drinks that would get picked up along with the takeaway, with Papyrus saying it would make for a great bonding experience for everyone after a hard day of work.

Mutt had come in to ask about dinner, but when he was told what the plan was and that they were going to play a game of cards while eating snacks, he declined the offer to join, speaking on his brother’s behalf as well, before disappearing back outside.

That didn’t stop Papyrus going outside himself to ask again, coming back to say “BLACK HAS, UN, POLITELY DECLINED.”

Y/n doubted that very much, but after what she had been through with Edge, she figured Black could do with space, his words still echoing in her head.

She just didn’t know where she stood with Black anymore, whether she should try pleading with him and to just tell her what was wrong and how they could fix it, or just telling him to leave already. Tensions in the house had never been this high and she sorely missed the ease and friendly atmosphere. It was coming up to five days since she could honestly say she woke up eager for the new day and that was really getting to her. To be perfectly honest, she was feeling more emotionally and mentally drained than physical exhausted, and she had to remind herself she had little sleep in the last 36 hours.

She was like a zombie at dinner, eating her small burger as everyone conversed amongst themselves, subdued. After dinner, as Papyrus and Blueberry eagerly sorted out the snacks while Edge fetched the cards, Red asked her if she was still up for working on the bike tonight.

“I’m honestly surprised to hear you ask that Red. I figured you’d be tired after today.”

Red shrugged, “if there’s one thing i’ve learned, it’s never to bank on tomorrow gettin' better.”

“That’s rather depressing.”

Red grinned as she jumped onto his hand, “i prefer thinkin' about it as living for today and not worryin' about comes next.”

As everyone else got settled in and started the first round, Red took her past the living room, where she could see Mutt and Black watching something on the television, their own take away in front of them. Black’s eyes locked onto her and she watched him watch her all the way across the backyard as Red eventually opened the workshop's door.

“how long are you going to deal with his shit?” Red asked, placing her on his shoulder so that he could take off the coverings for the chopper.

She leaned against his skull, tired, “I don’t know Red. I really don’t know.”

He grunted, tossing the coving into a far corner before walking over to the workbench and pulling out the plans they had agreed upon last time.

Looking down at them, Y/n instructed, “Right, so it’s handlebars tonight.” She pointed up, where long stacks of metal tubing were hooked to the wall, “You’re going to need to grab and measure out the cuts before we can wield the pieces together.”

She thumbed over her shoulder, “there’s a step ladder-“

A tube was surrounded in a red glow, lifting up and moving out, away from the others, to come to a rest on the workshop’s floor.

“you were sayin’?” Red grinned smugly.

Y/n huffed, nudging him playfully with her shoulder, “I keep forgetting you can lift non-me things with your magic.”

“kinda like we were doing all day today, right?”

“………Shut up.”

Red chortled as he grabbed a marker and a measuring tape, marking out the cuts he needed to make. Once that was done, she told him where the hand saw was and clung to his shoulder as he made the cuts.

“black’s watchin’ us.” Red said over the sound on metal cutting through metal.

“Huh?”

Looking around, she spied two purple eye lights at the workshop window quickly duck when she looked at them.

“Should we invite him in?” she asked.

“hell no.”

Red stopped cutting to look over at her, “look, i’ll be honest, knowin' this makes me a selfish prick, but i’d rather just keep this whole thing ter just you and me, okay? i don’t really care if blue and paps came wanderin' in; this is our project and no ones else.”

“…….Alright then.”

Nodding at her response, Red went back to cutting, before yelling over the whirling blade, “besides, if he wanted to be here, he would be. he certainly hasn’t let what other people want stop him so far.”

“Wonder why he’s here then?” She looked away from the still empty window and back at Red’s work, “We’re not doing anything interesting. Most people don’t care about the making process; it’s the big, loud, and shiny bike that people like to see.”

Red shrugged, indifferent to the answer.

Before long, he was done with the cutting part and grinding the ragged edge smooth, and he moved them roughly into what they would look like when wielded on the ground.

“Not too shabby Red.” she said appreciatively, comparing what she could remember on her Dad’s work.

He grinned, delighted, before looking around, “so, where’s the welder?”

“Over by the stereo system.”

He grabbed and wheeled the whole set up into the open, grabbing heavy duty clamps to lock the two halves into place so that he could wield them into one.

“Hold up!”

Red looked away from where he was about to start, to look at her in surprise, “what now?”

“There’s welding masks back there.”

“so?”

“So,” she said, getting cross, “You need to get one.”

“my eyes don’t work based on light babydoll.” He said, turning back and preparing to weld.

“Yeah, but-“

Red started welding, and Y/n spun quickly around to avoid damaging her eyes, echoes of her dad’s warnings about the bright light created by welding and the damaged it did over long periods of exposure.

_“Even if it’s just a second every day, that still damages your eyes, and that damaged builds up.”_

“you’re not even gonna look at what i’m doing because of a stupid mask?” Red asked, stopping to glare at her back.

She didn’t bother turning around, “Just because your eyes aren’t light based, doesn’t mean mine aren't.”

There was a pause, before two welding masks came floating towards Red’s hand.

“sorry.” He mumbled, moving to place it over her.

Y/n looked around at the enclosed space, pushing the mask around on Red’s shoulder to make it stay, “It’s okay. I guess if it’s easy for me to forget about magic, it makes perfect sense that you forget human biology.”

When Red placed his welding mask on after adjusting the straps to fit his skull, he accidentally knocked over Y/n’s, with both of them realising that this just wasn’t going to work.

“I can sit over there on the bench,” She pointed out, “or maybe you can wheel over that toolbox?”

“forget that.”

Red picked up her welding mask and placed it on the floor next to him, before putting his firmly on his head, strapping it into place.

“What about me?”

Red grinned over at her, before knocking the mask’s hood down over his grinning face.

He gestured to the gap by his neck, “get in here.”

Hesitantly, she made her way over to the gap, bending low to get into the tight space the mask offered.

Red’s red eyelight focused on her, beaming, “yer gonna have to really press yourself to my face for this to work.”

“That’s awfully convenient, isn’t it?” she said, even as she pressed herself to the side of his skull and checked that she could look out through the hood’s window.

She could feel Red shrug under her feet, before he turned back to the welding, “yer the one who insisted on this.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining. I never need an excuse to cosie up to my favourite biker chick.” She nuzzled his cheek briefly, grinning as the whole enclosure was bathed in a red glow, “Oh hey look! My own night light!”

“shut the fuck up!” he snapped, embarrassed.

She chuckled, before leaning back against his skull, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

“like hell you are.” He muttered under his breath.

“….Okay, then how about I promise to behave myself from on?”

He seemed to consider that, before grinning back at her as his blush began to fade, “alright then.”

As she settled again, his tongue shot out and licked her, from her stomach and up to her forehead.

“Ew! Oh, come on Red! I just got these clothes!” She complained, wiping his saliva from her face.

Red roared out in laughter, throwing his head forward as he clung to his sides. The hood locked into place ment Y/n didn’t fall to the ground, merely onto the hood, but it did mean she got the ‘joy’ of looking up into both of his beaming eyes and laughing face.

Eventually, he settled enough that he was still snickering as she continued to clean herself as best as she could, pointing out to her, “you might plannin' on behavin' yerself, but i never said i’d be doing that.”

“Oh god, it’s up my nose! I smell mustard!”

That comment set of a whole new round of laughter, from both of them, neither of them seeing when the purple eye lights headed back inside.

~*~

By the time the handlebars were welded together and attached to the chopper's frame, a couple of hours had gone by, but neither Y/n nor Red really noticed  how long they had been outside. It had been a fun experience for both of them, and Red seemed to really like it when Y/n complemented his welding skills. She was impressed by the skill in general, but to see it from this angle and to listen to him as he explained what he was doing and what he was looking for, really put into perspective just how skilled he was.

“we’re all pretty good builders, but boss, paps and blue are the better builders.”

She looked over at Red as he finished locking the workshop’s door, before making his way back, “Hard to imagine skills getting better than what I saw tonight.”

He shrugged, “yer ain’t seen their puzzles and traps, and all the components that went into them. besides, sans, stretch and i may be workin' and tinkerin' on the machine in the basement, but it was those three that rebuilt the whole thing from half-destroyed blueprints. a lot of custom parts needed for that thing as well, and they did it all by themselves. all we’re really doin' is the maths.”

“I always knew you guys were handy, but that really does put it into perspective, doesn’t it?” she sighed tiredly, sitting back and enjoying the night air, “Well, I guess I was right to ask about getting help with the chopper. I honestly never thought I’d ever see it getting completed, and I can’t wait to see you on it, biker chick.”

He grinned over at her, “and i know you still have at least one of the bikinis. shame i can’t wear mine, seein' as how i gave it to you after boss destroyed yours.”

“Yes, a real shame that is. Guess this means I have to buy you a replacement one, and don't worry, it will fit you way better than the last one. I’m thinking frilly and very, very skimpy.”

They both chuckled as they approached the back door, the sounds of friendly, excited and invested banter, loudly coming from the dining room.

“game’s still on. good,” grinned Red eagerly, “i wanted some of those snacks.”

“You could always go out and get some for just yourself.” She pointed out, feeling a twinge that wasn’t an option for her.

“yeah, but nothin’s better than winnin' them from someone else.”

Black and Mutt were both in the living room, with Black glaring briefly over at them before returning his attention back to the screen.

She tapped the side of Red’s head, “Hold up Red.”

He stopped off to the side in the living room, allowing Y/n a chance to say to Black, “Would you two like to join In with us? It’d be nice to have you.”

“WOULD IT REALLY?!” Black said, sarcastically, staring at the television as he sat back into the couch in a huff, “AND WHAT ARE YOU BASING THAT ON? THE ‘WARM’ WELCOME WE GOT ON NIGHT ONE, ALL THE ‘FRIENDLY’ CONVERSATIONS WE’VE HAD SINCE THEN, OR THE FACT THAT EVERYONE IS JUST HOPING THAT EITHER THE HOUSE WILL BE DONE SOON OR THAT WE’LL GIVE UP AND LEAVE?”

“maybe if you weren't such a little turd about everythin.” Red growled.

“Red!” Y/n snapped, but the damage was already done.

Black flung himself up from the couch, storming over to the pile of blankets and pillows before marching to the back door, carrying a blanket and pillow, “WELL, SINCE I’M ‘SO WELCOMED’ IN HERE, I THINK I’LL SPEND THIS AND EVERY NIGHT IN MY HOUSE!!”

He slammed the back door, heading towards his house.

“Oh god fucking dammit!” she cursed.

She looked over at Red, “Follow him, Red.”

“why should i?” he shrugged, rolling his eyes, “if the brat wants to spend the night outside, more fucking power to him.”

“Fine.” She leapt from his shoulder, walking towards the back door, “Then don’t follow, and don’t send someone after me, got it?”

“y/n-“

“Are you going to open the door or so I have to climb through a window?” she angrily called out from the ground, over by the back door, after struggling to open it herself.

The backdoor was surrounded in a dark orange, swinging open as the magic faded. Y/n and Red looked over at an indifferent Mutt, who appeared to be watching television.

“Th-thank you, Mutt.”

When he didn’t respond, Y/n quickly left, heading towards Black’s house and listening to the door close behind her. It had been a long time since she had to walk such a distance, and once again, she found herself missing getting carried around. Like that was the norm and not something she only had in the past three weeks. How quickly had she adapted to the skeletons being here…and how slow it felt like Black and her were getting to know each other now. Perspective helped in cases like this, and sure, it had felt like a blur now, but she did have to remind herself it had taken two days before she didn’t fear Edge killing her and close to a week for her to trust Red again. She had plenty of time to think as she struggled through the growing grass, the full toll of the last few days really settling in as she pushed herself forwards, rather than retreat back.

At least she had shoes now.

She was feeling tired, irritable and like the world's shitest person right now, and if she wanted any of this to get better, she was done playing this thing as every new opportunity to get to know him came up. Now she was going to force some sort of compromise between them, because there was no way to accurately measure just how over all this she was. She was going to ask him what he wanted and try her hardest to cater to him. The way she was feeling right now, she was close to asking the guys to knock out a side of her house and build extensions (or perhpahs a new floor, if she wasn’t feeling so dramatic).

Why?

She didn’t know, and that’s the point! She didn’t know what she needed to do to fix this, or why Papyrus seemed to believe she could! And she sure didn’t know when she started caring enough about Black that seeing him distressed caused her distress, but here she was!

Or, hell, maybe she was just loopy and she’d pass out at some point soon from exhaustion, snuggling into the grass for someone (or something) to find her in the morning.

It was in this mindset that she finally managed to reach Black’s house, climbing to stand on the foundation. Black himself was resting against the main support beam, wrapped in a blanket.

His purple eyes found hers in the dark, narrowing in hate as he hissed, “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE.”

“Not until I’ve talked with you.”

She knew better than to take a step forward.

“I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU!” he snapped.

She sat down, “Then I guess I’ll wait here until you do.”

“YOU’LL BE WAITING FOREVER!”

She nodded, “So I’ll wait here forever.”

He continued to glare at her as she watched him, waiting.

And waiting.

Waiting……

A cold breeze blew through the wall frames, and her body couldn’t help but shudder in response, her arms curling around her body to help conserve heat.

And still, she waited, watching him watch her.

“…..WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

Her shoulders sagged, “Because I’m tired of fighting you, Black. I just want to know what it is you want and see if I can’t help you get it.”

“SO AFTER ALL OF THIS, YOU’RE FINALLY PREPARED TO BOW AND CATER TO MY WHIMS?” he scoffed.

She scouted back, leaning on the door frame, sighing tiredly, “Yeah Black, you won. This is what winning looks and feels like.”

Black laughed bitterly, “OH YES, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED! EVERYTHING I EVER DREAMT ABOUT THE SURFACE AND MORE!”

He looked hurriedly away, refusing to look at her now.

“What did you think the surface was going to be like?” she asked, realising that all monsters must have daydreamed about it for years before they were free. Was it everything they hoped for, or were they disappointed? Were the guys disappointed?

Black pulled in his blanket, sinking deeper into it.

“I DON’T KNOW!” he stubbornly said.

Y/n looked over to the trees she could see swaying in the breeze, watching them instead, “Shame. I guess I’ve always wanted to know what monsters were imagining the surface to be like. Never thought I would get the chance to ask though.”

“…..I EXPECTED TO FIGHT, BUT NOT LIKE THIS. I EXPECTED TO KILL THE PEOPLE WHO CHALLENGED ME, NOT SPARE THEM, ONLY SO THAT THEY COULD INSULT ME ANOTHER DAY. I EXPECTED HUMANS TO BE JUST AS RUDE AS EVERYONE ELSE I’VE EVER MET, AND I EXPECTED TO BE LET DOWN EVERY TIME I STUPIDLY GOT MY HOPES UP THAT I WOULD BE PROVEN WRONG!”

“…You’re not bored,” she said slowly, turning to face him as comprehension hit her, “you’re lonely.”

Black flinched like she had just struck him again, but for her, it felt like her very soul had just been struck, and everything she had seen about his behaviour was finally explained by this absolute truth. That’s why he came here, why he desired attention from everyone, in whatever form, why he was still here when he could have gone anytime.

Why he pushed everyone away.

Nothing hurts more than that feeling of isolation and that people were only accommodating you into their lives out of some sort of pitty. Just because a person was surrounded by others, that didn’t make them feel any less alone. In fact, sometimes being surrounded by people who you knew didn’t care about you made you feel even more alone that complete social isolation. It hurt far less to be hated, than to mean so little to people that you never crossed this mind as a person who actually existed.

It was better, always, to be hated than pitied.

She knew this feeling and truth well; part of the reason she liked Sara coming by despite knowing she hated her and the danger it brought was that at least a form of acknowledgement from the world that had forgotten her.

Remembered, unlike every other bitty.

Y/n stood up slowly, “That’s why you’re here, why you’re still here, why it hurts you every time you see the rest of us laughing without you and you react so emotionally.”

“SHUT UP!” Black spat, pushing himself back and away from her.

“Why? Because I’m right, or does hearing me just say this hurt you?”

He bundled himself so completely in the blanket that all she could see where his eyes glaring at her in the dark. When he didn’t say anything, she went on.

“If you want to stop being alone Black, then you’ve got to stop pushing people away. You need to stop trying to protect yourself from getting hurt and risk it. Everything positive in life is, and has always been, a risk, and the only things that are guarantees are negatives and pain. Guarantees like dying alone, unloved and unbefriended if you keep doing what you’re doing. It’s scary, but it’s so worth it. Trust me, I know-“

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?”

Black threw off his blanket and held his hand out to her. Y/n had a brief second of seeing her body surrounded in purple magic glow before her body was pulled towards him, slamming into his palm as his hand tightened around her. As he began to yell at her, he shook her with every sentence, his grip tightening and his yelling increasing the longer he screamed at her.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, OR THE LIFE I’VE HAD TO LIVE! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FIGHTING FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONE’S SURVIVAL EACH AND EVERY SECOND, FEARING TO SLEEP BECAUSE IF YOU RELAX, YOU DIE!! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S IT’S LIKE TO BE SO ALONE BECAUSE YOU CAN’T TRUST ANYONE NOT TO STAB YOU IN THE BACK THE MOMENT THEY SEE YOUR GUARD LOWED!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW PAINFUL IT IS TO HAVE TO PUT ON AN ACT THAT’S DESTROYING YOUR BROTHER’S SPIRIT, BUT KNOWING THAT IT’S ALL THAT’S KEEPING HIM AND YOU ALIVE!!!!”

Y/n clung to his hand squirming in pain as the bones in her body began to ache, her breathing restricted and her whole body suffering after being violently shaken around. Yet she cried out, insistent, “I do know what’s it like to fight everyone for your right to live! I’ve defended myself from an unsympathetic government, people trying to steal my only home, and skeletons constantly trying to kill me, like I was vermin or something! I know the pain of loss, because I lost my entire family to a car crash I could have prevented! I know what it’s like to live completely alone for such a long time, because for the longest time, I couldn’t trust anyone either! I remember hating the whole world and especially myself, wanting nothing but to be left alone, and you know what?! I was wrong!”

At this point, tears were trickling down her cheeks, but she ignored them to stare up into Black’s shocked face, “I was wrong thinking that all I ever wanted was isolation, to sincerely wish that everyone just stayed away from me. The last thing I wanted was people getting close to me, because that just meant I was opening myself to more pain.” She wiped her eye quickly, before patting his hand, feeling him relax his grip slightly and allowing her to breathe easier, “Right?”

The bags under Black’s eyes seemed to grow more pronounced, but he didn’t say anything, so she continued on, despite her tears and aches, “I-I haven’t been this happy in such a long time. I-I love hanging out with all the guys, and what I saw from you last night, what you did for your brother, I can’t but think that I’d like to get to know you too. I’d love to cook with you, go out shopping with you and whatever else it is you think is fun to do.” She gripped his finger with her hand, hard, “But you’ve got to stop fighting, Black.”

He dropped her, quickly turning his back to her as he rewrapped himself in the blanket. Picking herself up from the ground, Y/n hugged her bruised sides and called out to him, “Black?”

He ignored her, his face turned away.

Hobbling unsteady around him, Y/n walked around to stare up into his face, surprised and saddened to see purple tears falling silently from his eyes.

“NO ONE WILL EVER LIKE ME, AND I DON’T CARE.” He said, lifelessly.

“I do.” She argued, struggling to pull herself up to sit on his knee, “Why else would I be here?”

Black’s head turned to look down at the ground to his side. Looking around, Y/n recognised her own handwriting, the words ‘Suck it Brat!’ now etched in cement.

“NO, YOU DON’T.” He looked over at her, still crying silently, “AT BEST, YOU PITY ME.”

“I-I-“ Y/n sobbed, hating herself in that moment.

She pulled her legs in, and cried out through her tears, “I’m-I’m sorry! I was wrong, okay?? I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have ever called you a br-brat, not without trying to understand you!”

“THERE’S THE PITTY.”

She looked back up at him, “It’s not-“

“SO I DID NOTHING WRONG AND IT REALLY IS ALL YOUR FAULT?” he hissed, wiping his eyes and cheeks free from his tears.

Y/n took a deep, shuddering breath, before honestly admitting to both herself and him, “I was wrong to write that in your house, but we’ve both been wrong about how we’ve handled talking to each other.” She stood up, wiping her tears, “But-but I want to do better, I want to try to meet you half way and form a friendship with you, if-if you want that.”

He stared at her for a long time, before looking away, “I-I DON’T KNOW WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO HERE.”

“Do you want to try being friends with me?” she asked softly.

He eventually nodded.

“How about everyone else?”

“THEY CAN GO TO HELL!” he spat angrily, glare towards the house, “THOSE JERKS HATE ME AND I HATE THEM!”

“What if I could get them to be nice and make sure they treat you fairly?”

He scoffed, “I’D HAVE A BETTER CHANCE TURNING MY BIKE INTO A SPACE FAIRING ROCKETSHIP!”

She smiled softly, gesturing to herself, “I like to think if I can be friends with Edge and Red, I can get them to be friends with you. I know Papyrus and Blueberry already like you.”

“THE CREAMPUFF AND THE CHILD LIKE EVERYONE!”

“So? You make that seem like a bad thing? Try getting to know them before judging them like that, and tell me is people judging others without knowing them properly sounds unfair and familiar.”

When he didn’t respond, she yawned with a stretch, “Look, I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I can promise it’s worth it. And even if they don’t want to be friends, if you guys can’t forgive whatever was said or done in the past, I promise to be your friend, if you’re willing to meet me half way that is.”

He didn’t respond to that, looking towards the forest and seemingly lost in his thoughts.

Sighing again, she said as she rubbed her eyes, “Well, in the name of honesty, new friendships and our new alliance, I’m going to admit that you’ve won and head back inside for some sleep. Assuming it’s okay, I’ll be in my bitty house. Come and see me whenever you need me, and I’ll guess I’ll see you in the morning?”

He didn’t say anything, making no obvious signs that he had heard her.

Feeling like she had done all that she could without pushing too far, she made to jump off his knee.

“WAIT!” Black cried out.

She turned and watched him looked hurriedly away, “I-I-I’M GOING TO STAY OUT HERE TONIGHT…DO SOME THINKING….COULD-COULD YOU STAY HERE WITH…”

He didn’t finish that sentence.

“…Can-can I share your blanket?” she asked, as another breeze forced a shiver from her.

Tentatively, he held out his hand to her, watching her with apprehension as she gingerly climbed onto his palm. Once she was on, he lifted her to his purple bandana around his neck.

“YOU’LL-YOU’LL BE WARM IN HERE…ASSUMING YOU HAVEN’T GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT.”

She laughed nervously, eying it, “Almost as good as a regular bed…..are you sure you’re okay with this?”

When he nodded, she delicately hopped off his hand, making her way towards the crook of his neck.

“Am-am I hurting you?”

He actually laughed, “PLEASE! YOU WEIGH SO LITTLE THAT YOU COULD CLONE YOURSELF INTO AN ARMY AND NOT HAVE A HOPE OF LAYING A SCRATCH ON ME!”

She smiled softly over at him, “I guess I was thinking more along the lines of tickling or upsetting you.”

“……..NO, YOU’RE FINE.”

He looked away, and she felt more comfortable finding a spot in his bandana without him watching her, flipping up and digging into the folds, until she gave a sigh of relief as the chill left her and her body warmed.

“What about you?” she asked softly, not bothering to look around.

She felt his head turn towards her, before looking away, “I’LL BE FINE. I’M ALWAYS FINE.”

“…..That’s good then.”

Black went back to looking into the woods, thinking about how different they were to the pine forests back home, yet how familiar they were. As the night moved on, he would watch how the trees moved with the gently breeze, how the house behind him began to settle as lights were turned off and doors were closed for the night. For Black, he watched these changes with indifferent acknowledgement, lost in his thoughts.

He thought about how life was for him growing up with Rus; hard, unforgiving and filled with nearly unforgivable decisions that were made in the name of survival. He thought about what it had been like getting dragged into this alternative universe with everyone else; fights every hour as Vanilla and the Creampuff struggled for order and co-operation. He thought about the decision he had made with Rus to stay and help with the machine, and how quickly he came to hating Edge Lord and the Perve, dispising the Child and the name he was given as just another snide insult at him by the whole house.

The decision to stay behind when they decided to move here had been an easy one, and he was happy to see them all go.

But soon, Rus began to settle back to his indifferent manners, and they both grew tired of the old house and the company they were forced to keep. Tracking the others at first had simply been to prove that they could, something to do, but when they had arrived and seen how nice the house was, how lacking it was of battle damage like the house they had come from, it had surprised them both.

Then the jerks had arrived back home, wearing beach clothes and looking far happier than they had been before, and Black had felt a flash of pain at the idea that they were happy because he wasn’t there.

He couldn’t claim it was the Edge Lord like he used to, not when he had been with them the whole time.

Refusing to believe that, he had instead to latch onto the other thing he had discovered while snooping; Y/n, the bitty pet. How quickly they defended her, how they seemed attached and concerned about her, Black wanted her for his own, to spite the monsters he both hated and trusted not to kill him, something he had never really experienced before.

When Y/n fought back, he had been enraged, of course, but impressed, and the desire to make her only his had been matched up to his desire for revenge, pride, and a begrudging respect.

That bloomed into a rivalry, and he had only felt more pain the more he watched the rest of the household interacting with her and each other. How were they working so well together now?! Why were they so nice to each other when the last he had seen them, everyone had been one argument from just separating, following the others who had done just that?! Why Was the Edge Lord liked and he wasn’t?!?

Enraged, bitter, and feeling personally attacked at every chance, he had latched out, pushing and yet unable to stop himself from trying to pull back in the one person he thought might tolerate him, like she appeared to tolerate and actually like Edge.

Having her now, with him, like this?

“Y/N?”

She didn’t respond, and after a while, Black sighed, feeling a weight lift from his soul as he thought about the fact she felt safe enough to sleep on him like this.

Taking out his pillow from behind his back and careful not to jostle her, Black spun his bandana around so the small, warm lump rested on his chest instead as he laid his head down on the pillow, frowning at the hard surface at his back. Still, as he looked down and saw Y/n’s sleeping face dozing on his chest, he thought he might actually prefer this sleeping arrangement than any he had ever had in his life.

 

Next chapter is called: Smoke and Mirrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY STARS!  
> I'm back and stuff happened at the wrong time that I knew would make me late, so I made the decision to take my time and deal with that first before worrying about this update cylce. I'm so sorry for the wall of silence and the many people concerned about me (greatly appreciate it guys *sob!*), but I'm back now, so things should settle down. I'm going to need a day or two to get back into the swing of things, but basically, I haven't been online since Monday last week.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoy this update!


	16. Smoke and Mirrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *WARNING* Non-Con Drugging in this chapter!  
> I'm so sorry for not putting this warning up sooner, and I promise, it won't happen again.
> 
> All my stories got wiped out about two days before the update schedule and I was crushed! So I took some time off, did these updates as good as I could (Hard to write something twice and not feel like it was better the first time), and now I've got October to look forward to!  
> I've been planning something fun for a while!  
> Hope to see you all in October!!

Y/n tossed around and slowly woke in, feeling warm on an oddly lumpy bed. A cool breeze hit her face and she snuggled deeper into her pillow, groaning when she felt a drool spot off to the side of her mouth.

“Oh man.” She complained, rolling over and uncaring that the sun was up.

When she did eventually wake up, Y/n could feel painful bruises on her ribcage, arms and legs, and it clicked where she was exactly. Slowly, she looked up into Black’s sleeping face as last night’s conversation with him came back to her.

She wasn’t sure how she felt Black, even now. Agreeing to spend the night with him outside had been a combination of agreeing because he had asked and her desire to start mending the bridge between them. To show that she did trust him….to an extent. She hadn’t been lying when she said she could see herself being friends with him, but a lot of that depended upon just how much he’d be willing to ease up now that he had admitted that he would like to be her friend. It helped to remember the part she played with him being so defensive and her hopes that things would be different now with that understanding between them. Black would never be as open or as friendly as Papyrus or Blueberry were, but if he could just ease up, she knew she could have the same type of friendship with him as the one she had with Edge.

Or maybe, something entirely unique and different in its own way. Only time would tell for sure.

Watching him sleeping now, seeing how relaxed and at peace he was and what that did to his face, just how much friendlier and more inviting he looked without the consent scowl or self-importance creasing his expressions, she founds herself wanting to know more about him. What he liked, what were his hobbies, and other ways she could bound with him.

What exactly would a friendship with Black look like?

_‘He kind of looks like Blue now….wonder what he looks like smiling?’_

She decided that she really would like to know, and made that her goal for today.

Y/n didn’t know how long she lay there on her stomach, ignoring the pains of her bruises as Black’s own ribcage expanded and shrank under her with his deep breathing, but it seemed to her not long before Black’s sockets cracked wearily open and his purple eye lights blinked into existence.

She smiled pleasantly, “Morning Black.”

Black shot up, causing Y/n to topple head over body out of his bandana and onto his legs.

“Y-Y/N?!” He cried out, looking down at her in shock.

She laughed awkwardly, pushing herself up and sitting on a thick blanket as pain grimaced her smile, “And a good morning to you too.” She looked about her, trying to remember, “Where did this blanket come from?”

Black picked up the edge of the new blanket, also confused, before looking over to the still being built house's front door area.

He sighed, “GOOD MORNING RU…MUTT.”

Surprised, Y/n spun around to see Mutt sitting in the archway, his back to them as he smoked in the early morning light.

He turned briefly to look at Black, arching an eyebrow in surprise as he nodded, before turning away to take another deep drag on the lit dog treat.

“G-good morning Mutt.” Y/n called out shyly, unsure what Mutt’s take on finding her sleeping on his brother would be like. After all, that wasn’t a normal thing people did.

Mutt’s only response was to give a brief wave over his shoulder, not bothering to turn around.

Scoffing, Black lowered her to the ground off to the side, dropping her non-too gently on the ground as he stood up, stretching his back with a groan of pain.

“THAT WILL BE THE LAST TIME I SLEEP ON SUB-PAR BEDDING!” He vowed, gathering the blankets and pillow.

“i don’t understand why you did in the first place…m’lord.” Mutt looked away from Y/n to glance up at Black, dog treat between his teeth, “the others will be concerned about her.”

Black scoffed again, bringing over the now folded blanket and pillow to lean against the archway, standing behind Mutt, “I’M ASSUMING YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR KEEPING THE IDIOTS AT BAY AND THE BLANKET?”

Mutt smiled, “of course m’lord.”

Black affectionately rubbed the back of Mutt’s skull, before looking back at her as he continued to talk to his brother, “THE-Y/N AND I….WELL, I’VE BEEN ASSURED TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT.”

“really?”

Mutt turned back as well, looking at her condescendingly.

She nodded firmly as she finished putting on her backpack and moved towards them. “It will.” she vowed.

Mutt shrugged and looked away, “guess we’ll see.”

This might be the most she had ever heard Mutt talking, and it was strange to see him talking relatively more open with Black right behind him.

_‘Perhaps it’s the others he doesn’t talk so open in front of?’_

That’s didn’t make much sense, but then again, she already knew she wasn’t getting the whole picture on these two and the history between them and the rest of the household. Who knew what was said or done before hatred and distrust separated these two brothers from everyone else. After all, there had to be a reason why they chose to remain behind instead of moving in when everyone else did.

She walked over to the brothers, coming to rest with a groan by Black’s boots.

“why are you winching?” Mutt asked, surprising her that he had actually asked.

Black watched her rubbing her sore ribs, frowning when he saw her face twist in a brief flash of pain on a particular sore spot, “IT’S NOT MY FAULT THAT I’M NOT A SQUISHY FLESHY CREATURE!”

“I-I didn’t get hurt from sleeping on you Black.” She admitted, dropping her arm.

“WHAT-….OH.”

He quickly looked away.

Leaning over, she heavily patted his boots so that he could actually feel her doing so, trying to get his attention.

“Don’t worry about it. I look at it as the last time you’ll hurt me, and something that will lead to our eventual friendship.”

He didn’t look any happier by what she said, if him turning his head away with a deeper scowl was any indication.

Sighing, she stood up and patted his leg instead, waiting for him to look down at her so she could meet his eyes when she said, “If I can forgive and get along with Edge after his attempts on my life, I can easily forgive a few bruises.”

He blinked slowly, his scowl slowly disappearing as he searched her expression. After finding whatever it was he was looking for, he sighed and bent down, offering his hand tentatively. She was just as hesitant hoping on, but she was more confident hoping off onto his shoulder, settling down as Black and Mutt looked at her.

“What?” She asked them.

Mutt smirked, looking away.

“you appear to have been drooled on, m’lord.”

“I WHAT?!” Black cried, spinning his bandana around.

He quickly saw the spot she drooled on him, turning even quicker to glare at her.

“WHY DID YOU DROOL ON ME?!”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” She cried, burying her face in embarrassment.

“THAT MAKES IT BETTER??”

“Yes! I mean, that’s what makes it an accident!”

Mutt chuckled as Black and Y/n argued, before calling out over their bickering, “the others are coming out.”

“WHAT OTHERS?” Black angrily asked, untying his scarf and tossing it over into Mutt’s lap, looking for himself.

He needn't have bothered to ask; everyone could easily hear Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge talking to each other, coming out in their eye-catching exercise gear as they stretch for the morning go with the exercise equipment.

“Guess today’s stations day.” She looked over at Black, to see him scowling at the group, “Ready to get involved with all that happens here?”

Black scoffed, “AND WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO JOIN THEM?”

“Then don’t, but if you go, I’ll stay on your shoulder.” She realised something, “You know what? It’ll also be the first time that I’ve ever sat with a skeleton as they do their exercises.”

He looked quickly over at her, “REALLY??”

She smiled, “Yeah. I normally just sit outside watching them. Never thought to ask before.”

Not that they hadn’t asked her to join them before, but between their clothing and just how energetic they all, she just couldn’t see herself sitting on anyone's shoulders for long without being bucked off or slipping down into their ribcages. Something she was not eager to do again.

She could tell he had warmed considerably to the idea, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before grinning over at her, “YOU KNOW WHAT? I THINK I WILL GRACE THEM WITH MY PRESENCE TODAY!”

“are you sure m’lord?”

Black was already stretching, grinning as he watched the others look towards his way with Papyrus waving before coming over with Blueberry while Edge rolled his eyes and moved on to the duelling dummy.

“BLACK! Y/N!” Papyrus called out, coming to a skidding stop close to their house along with Blueberry, “HOW DID-WHY ARE YOU COVERED IN PURPLE SPOTS?”

Y/n quickly pulled down her shirt, attempting to hide them, “Guys, it’s okay, promise. I-I bruise easily” she shrugged, “Part of the deal with having skin, I’m afraid. It looks a lot worse then it feels, promise.”

“ARE YOU SURE?” Papyrus asked, leaning in for a closer look, “BECAUSE THEY LOOK REALLY PAINFUL. SHOULD I GO AND GET SOME MONSTER CANDY?”

“I think it might be too late for that.” She said, thinking about her wrist and how, once it started healing, the Monster Candy didn't help that much.

Seeing both of them reluctant to let this go, she instead asked, “So, how did you two sleep last night?”

“I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU TWO THAT QUESTION!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“DID YOU ACTUALLY SLEEP?” Blueberry asked quickly.

“OF COURSE SHE SLEPT, CHILD!” Black angrily snapped, his fists clenching by his side.

Blueberry frowned, “I WAS JUST ASKING BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T LAST NIGHT BLACK! THERE’S NO NEED-“

“I got a full night of sleep Blue.” She quickly called out, stopping the argument before it could get much more momentum, “Actually, we both got a good night of sleep and are rearing to join you guys this morning.”

“REALLY?!?” Papyrus asked, looking over at Black and beaming widely when Black looked quickly away.

“Y-YES!” He smiled cruelly at Blueberry, “ME AND Y/N!”

“Y/N’S ALSO JOINING US TODAY?!?!?” Papyrus clasped both hands together, his eyes shimmering, “TODAY IS GOING TO BE THE BEST DAY EVER!”

Even Blueberry was smiling, “Y/N! I’LL GET TO SEE ME ON THE PULL-UP BARS AND-“

“I DON’T THINK SO, CHILD!” Black posed, “SHE’S ALREADY TOLD ME THAT SHE PLANS TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY WITH JUST ME!”

“IS THIS TRUE??” Blueberry looked quickly over at her, heartbreak in his eyes.

Ignoring the pain in her heart, she added, “We BOTH plan to spend the whole day you guys, so I guess you could say I plan to spend the whole day with everyone, anyway.”

“OH, I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!” Papyrus cried, quickly scooping Y/n off Black’s shoulder to hug her to his chest, spinning around in circles.

While Black gave an indigent cry of “HEY!”, Papyrus was muzzling the top of her head as he happily said, “YOU WORKED YOUR MAGIC Y/N! I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! NOBODY BELIEVED ME, BUT I JUST KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN…..EVENTUALLY!”

“Paps!” She playfully scolded, surprised yet really happy to see him this ecstatic despite her bruises getting tightly hugged, “You can’t just take me from Black like this.”

“OOPS!”

Quickly, he was gently lowering her back on Blacks’ shoulder, dusting her off before standing respectfully back.

He waggled a finger at Black, still beaming, “PROMISE YOU’LL TAKE CARE LOOKING AFTER HER BLACK?”

Black rolled his eyes, but did stand up taller, “OF COURSE! WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!”

“A NEW EXERCISE BUDDY AND FRIEND!” Papyrus answered, before quickly turning to ran back over to Edge, calling over his shoulder, “JOIN US WHEN YOU’RE READY YOU TWO!”

Blueberry soon followed, but not before smiling happily at Y/n and making a hand gesture to Black that communicated keeping an eye on him in a competitive manner.

Black’s only response to that was to flip him off, before turning to look at Mutt.

“REMIND ME AGAIN WHY I’M NOT ALLOWED TO KILL HIM?”

“because he has several allies that would seek vengeance on us.” Mutt answered, closely examining Black’s face.

“And because I would be very put out and not at all happy with you.” Y/n added, glaring at Black to communicate the rest of just how unhappy she would be with him.

“WHATEVER.” Black looked back to see the others now at different stations, working out, “THEN I WILL HAVE TO SETTLE FOR UTTERLY DESTROYING THE CHILD, THE CREAM PUFF AND THE EDGE LORD IN PHYSICAL TESTS OF STRENGTHS, WIT, AND SPEED!”

With that, he picked Y/n off his shoulder and placed her on one of the walls exposed beams.

“I thought we were going to- Why are you taking off your shirt??”

Black had finished unclipping the shoulder pads he wore and dropping them off the floor when he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and made to pull it up. Ignoring her, he quickly took off his shirt and tossed it over to Mutt, joining his scarf.

“BECAUSE I AM A FLAWLESS SPECIMEN AND I DO NOT WISH TO SOIL MY CLOTHES WITH EXERCISE GRIM!” He looked at Mutt, “BRING ME MY BAG.”

Mutt lazily held up a bag on his over side, passing it over.

Quickly, Black took it from him, digging around in it. He pulled out a pair of purple sneakers, some socks, long baggy black pants, and several strips of purple material.

Suddenly, he was looking up at Y/n, purple blush across his cheeks. Quickly, he pushed all of this back into his bag, saying hurriedly, “DO-DON’T OGLE MY PER PRIVATE STUFF!”

“I wasn’t oogling!” Y/n cried out in her defence, totally oogling, “Be-besides, why are you stripping here??”

“MUTT!” Black yelled at his brother as he stood up and made his way towards the house, “DO NOT ALLOW HER TO LEAVE OR LET HER BE KIDNAPPED BY THE OTHER FOOLS!”

Mutt nodded, indifferent as he continued to smoke his dog treat.

When the backdoor slamming marked Black gone, she turned to talk to Mutt.

“So, um, what do you plan to do this morning?”

Mutt took a long time to answer her, and she was all but certain he wouldn’t when he eventually replied, “whatever m’lord desires.”

“…..Okay…..What if he doesn’t give you instructions? What then?”

He turned to face her, his expression hard, “then i’ll simply keep watch.”

She swallowed hard, knowing he was referencing everything that had happened to him and Black up to this point. Still, things were different now, and while mistakes had been made, it didn’t help anyone to linger on them.

“Things are different now Mutt.” She said, quietly.

His only response was to shrug and look away.

With nothing better to do, Y/n looked away and watched Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge well into their exercise regiments, with Papyrus and Blueberry constantly looking over at her. She waved back at Blueberry and smiled at every thumbs-up Papyrus gave her, but her eyes lingered the longest on Edge, who seemed to be ignoring her.

She already knew to get him and Black to be friends (hell, friendly) towards each other was easily going to be her biggest hurdle, but she hadn’t been expecting him to act a bit like how Black had when they had been clearing trees.

Like a sullen child stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the person they felt slighted by

It had….hurt when he hadn’t even bothered to greet her this morning. He had always greeted her in the morning (in some form), along with the others, and while it was never as energetic or enthusiastic as Papyrus’s or Blueberry’s, it was still some form of acknowledgment. Something, rather than nothing.

“DO NOT LOOK SO SAD PET, FOR I HAVE RETURNED!” Black called out, standing in her view to pose in front of her.

And returned he had; still lacking a shirt but now he was wearing black sunglasses that had been tapped to the side of his head, a purple headband tied around his skull with the long ribbons flapping in the wind. He was wearing the long, baggy black workout pants she had seen before as well as the runners and purple leather fingerless gloves.

“Sooo….no top?”

He was covered in so many scars and nicks that crisscrossed his bones. It was hard to say if he had more than either Edge or Red (‘Or his brother.’ She thought, recalling Mutt’s face when she had been close enough to see them stand out) as she had yet to see them without their shirts on, but there was no doubt that Black had an extremely rough life. Some of the scars looked like they had nearly cost Black his life, with a particularly nasty one across his neck and half of one of his ribs missing.

Black grinned, flexing, “NO TOP! I AM NOT ASHAMED OF MY BATTLE-WON SCARS! ONLY THE TOUGHEST MONSTERS HAVE THEM!”

Mutt’s fists clenched by his side and he took a deeper drag on the dog treat.

“So how am I suppose to sit on your shoulder?” she asked, knowing that unless he wore a proper top, she would not sit on his shoulder.

To answer, Black picked her up and placed her on his back, letting her cling to his ribs right by his shoulder blade.

“THERE!”

“Won’t I tickle you?” she asked, recalling the beach and how the other’s reacted to her.

Black wasn’t listening; already he was running towards the others as a light purple blush coloured his cheeks, Mutt watching them go.

“CHECK OUT YOUR PRECIOUS PET NOW!” Black called out, skidding to a halt in front of Blueberry on climbing the wall.

“Hey,” she tapped the side of his skull, scowling at him when he turned to look at her in surprise, “Don’t brag about this or I’ll hop off!”

“BUT YOU SWORE YOU’D BE WITH ME THE WHOLE DAY!”

“Not if you’re going to be a jerk about it!”

Black glared back at her briefly, before he threw his arms up into the air, “FINE!”

He was folding his arms in frustration when Blueberry came swinging down, skidding to a halt in front of them.

“HEY Y/N! HEY BLACK! ABOUT TIME YOU TWO GOT INVOLVED!” He grinned.

“WATCH YOUR TONE CHILD!”

“Black, try calling him by his name.”

She could tell that Black wanted to yell some more, but with a huge, deep breath, he instead said, “WATCH YOUR TONE…BLUE….BERRY.”

“BLUE’S FINE, BLACK.” His grin grew cheeky, “AND MY TONE IS MORE THAN APPROPRIATE FOR A FRIENDLY COMPETITION. SO, ARE YOU UP TO PROVE WHO’S THE GREATEST AT WALL CLIMBING?”

Black matched Blue’s smug grin with his own sharp one, “BRING IT!”

They shook on it for a long time, staring each other down before moving some distance away.

Blueberry pulled out his phone, looking up at Black, “READY? ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET-“

Black started moving before Blueberry said go, gleefully laughing as he sprinted to the wall. He jumped to meet the wall, before scrabbling with the foot and hand holds, speedily climbing the wall. Y/n clung to his ribs, still aching from the impact of Black hitting the wall full force and her raming into his ribs with her bruised front, but she kept silent about it.

Instead, she whispered into his ear, “I saw you, Black. You totally cheated!”

“I DID NOT!” he snapped, still scaling the wall.

“Oh really?”

She slid over to his arm joint, tracing a light finger on the rib under it.

Black immediately let go with a surprised giggle, hanging from just one arm.

“CAREFUL BLACK!” Blueberry called up from the ground.

“THE PET TICKLED ME!” Struggling to pull himself back up.

“I did not!” she denied with a smug grin.

Before Black could retort, she moved back, tapping her wrist, “Tick tock.”

Growling, Black quickly pulled himself back up, muttering under his breath as he managed to hop over the wall. Pushing himself up, he threw Y/n a dirty look, who tried looking as innocent as she could.

Blueberry looked up from his phone, grinning, “NICE TRY BLACK, BUT YOU HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE YOU CAN BET MY RECORD!”

Before Black could snap back, Y/n was quickly standing taller to whisper into his ear…hole, “Want to see if Blue can do any better while being tickled?”

He looked thoughtful for a second, before his grin returned full force.

“TICKLE HIS SPINE; IT’S THE MOST….SENSITIVE AREA.”

She winked, enjoying seeing him getting involved in her plans, before calling out to Blueberry, “Care to show us how it’s done?”

He beamed, puffing out his chest, “BUT OF COURSE!”

He moved to stand where Black had, who moved over to him to pull out his phone.

“Hey Black, do you mind if I sit with Blue? You know, make it fair?” she asked, smiling.

Black winked, before saying in a very loud and staged voice, “WHY OF COURSE NOT PE-Y/N! NOT IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO! I WOULD NEVER DREAM OF KEEPING YOU FROM OTHERS!”

Blueberry narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Black, but happily took her from Black’s offered hand, before placing her on his shoulder.

“JUST LIKE THE VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION, RIGHT PARTNER?”

“…A bit like that, I guess.”

Black could not keep the grin off his skull as he counted down, “READY! SET! GO!!”

Blueberry ran as fast as he could, beaming in delight in all his 80’s nightmare fashion. His spine wasn’t as easily accessible as Black’s was, so she decided to try for his underarms first.

Once he was on the wall, Y/n slide over to launch her attack.

“Y-Y/N!” Blueberry spluttered, stopping to cling to the wall as he squirmed about.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Am I tickling you?” she asked sweetly as her little fingers danced all long his arm joint and connected bones.

“Y-YES!!”

She giggled, sliding back, “Sorry! Is this better?”

Leaning over, she snaked her arm around his colourful shirt, running her hand up and down his spine and tickling every inch she could reach.

Blueberry gasped as colour flooded his cheeks, and he quickly pressed himself firmly to the wall.

“Y-Y/N!” he said with a shudder through clenched teeth.

She quickly stopped and pulled her hand back out.

He had never used that tone with her before.

Quickly, he dropped to the ground, refusing to look at her. “DO-DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING?” he asked her, quietly.

“Tickling you?” she answered, no longer so sure.

Black suddenly bursting out laughing in the distance helped cue her in that she had just been had. Blushing, she yelled at Black, “What did you make me do??”

He placed a hand to his chest, smugly, “ME?? YOU WERE THE ONE TO TOUCH BOY BLUE IN HIS ‘SENSITIVE’ AREA.”

Her blush darkening, she quickly dropped her head, pressing her forehead to Blueberry’s shoulder, “I-I’m so sorry Blue! I swear, I didn’t know!”

His hand reached over and awkwardly patted her as a blue glow clung to his cheeks, “SHH. IT…IT’S OKAY. I-…YOU-…IT’S OKAY.”

She had never heard him so awkward before.

“I’m going to get Black back for this!” She vowed quietly to herself, still thoroughly embarrassed.

Blueberry chuckled, plucking her from his shoulder to hold her in his hand, lifting her to his blushing face, “HEE, IT’S OKAY Y/N! REALLY!”

She buried her face in her hands, “Geez Blue! How are you so cool with this?? Please, tell me how I can make it up to you?”

The blue glow bleeding through her closed eyelids and fingers grew brighter, “CAN-CAN I GET A KISS ON MY CHEEK?”

Before she could think about it too much, she pushed herself up and leaned forward, kissing a blushing cheek.

“MWEH HEH HEH!” Blueberry happily cheered, his eye-lights shifting into blue hearts as he beamed at Y/n on his palm, who had curled back into a ball by that point.

“OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Before she could do much of anything else, her body was surrounded in a purple glow and pulled back into Black’s hand, who kept her there. Without another word, he marched off towards Papyrus, leaving Blueberry to fondly rub his cheek, lost in his daydreams.

She had recovered somewhat through a combination of distance from Blueberry and pain of being held tightly again, so it was she was able to look up when Papyrus happily called out to them, over by the pull-up bars.

“Y/N! BLACK! IT’S WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU TWO OUT HERE! CARE TO WORK OUT WITH ME NOW?”

“DO YOU PLAN TO TRICK THE PET INTO KISSING YOU TOO, CREAMPUFF?” Black snapped, glaring at Y/n, who had hidden her face to hide her remerging blush.

Papyrus dropped from the bar he had been pulling himself up, walking towards them in his crop top too short to properly cover all his ribs and shorts that showed the tip on his pelvic bone.

“I WOULD NEVER TRICK Y/N INTO KISSING ME! I GET KISSES AND HUGS FROM HER ALL THE TIME, AND I ASSURE YOU, THEY ARE DONE WITH NO TRICKERY!”

“HAVE YOU HUGGED AND KISSED EVERYONE HERE??” Black angrily snapped at her, a brief look of pain crossing his face.

She sighed, rubbing her face before looking at him, folding her arms, “I have not kissed ‘everyone’! And as for hugs,” She held open her arms, “Would you like a hug, Black?”

Purple flashed across his cheeks, and he looked quickly away, “OF COURSE NOT!”

She shrugged, turning to face Papyrus, “Paps, would you-“

Black quickly smooshed her into his blushing, purple cheek, opening his hand so that her body pressed to him. Surprised, she shrugged and quickly hugged him back.

After a while, she pressed herself back, smiling into his eyelight. “There, now I’ve just about hugged everyone.”

His eye lights looked quickly over at Edge, before looking back at her, “HAVE YOU KISSED THE EDGE LORD YET?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” She said, folding her arms.

Black rolled his eyes, moving his hand away to look at her, “EDGE THEN! HAVE YOU KISSED EDGE YET?!”

“No, but this isn’t a competition Black. I’m not trying to kiss all the skeletons.”

He seemed to have stopped listening, humming in delight as he moved her back to his back.

Rolling her eyes, she instead turned her attention to Papyrus, “So, how many pull-ups can you do?”

He grinned while posing, “I CAN DO SO MANY, THAT I QUICKLY LOSE COUNT OF JUST HOW MANY I’VE DONE!”

“I CAN DO MORE!” Black snapped, coming back into their reality.

“IMPOSSIBLE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS CANNOT BE BEATEN!”

“WELL, THE MALEVOLENT SA-BLACK HAS NEVER LOST A FIGHT!” Black easily leapt for a pull-up bar, already pulling himself up and down effortless at an impressive speed.

Grinning, Papyrus quickly joined him, and the two seemed to enjoy having the another one there, pushing them to outperform each other and themselves.

Stuck on Black’s back, Y/n looked between the two skeletons who weren’t even sweating or showing any signs of slowing down, “I should be impressed, but then again, how much do you guys weigh?”

“IT’S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH WE WEIGH.” Black said, his voice giving away that he was under a hint of strain.

“YES,” Said Papyrus in much of the same tone as Black’s, “WE’RE STILL LIFTING UP OUR OWN WEIGHT OVER AND OVER AGAIN!”

She thought back to them clearing the trees and remembered how strong they were. It didn’t matter how much they weighed, they were easily stronger than any human she had ever met!

Dropping the conversation and hoping to distract herself from staring too much at either skeleton, she instead moved over to Black’s skull, whispering to him, “Why the hell did you trick me like that?!”

Black continued to do pull-ups, rolling his eyes as he retorted, “I WANTED TO SEE HOW THE CHILD-“

“Blue.” She overrode him, firmly.

“BLUE!” he snapped, before continuing, “I WANTED TO SEE BLUE’S REACTION! I WANTED TO SEE HIM GETTING ALL FLUSTERED AND EMBARRASSED, RUNNING AWAY LIKE THE CHILD HE IS!”

She hissed back, “Well he didn’t do any of that, so I hope it was worth ticking me off so early in the day just to tease him like that!”

Black didn’t say anything, but from where she clung to him on his back, he did not look at all happy how that played out.

She sighed, “I thought we agreed to be a bit friendly towards each other?”

“I AM VERY FRIENDLY THIS MORNING!” he grinned smugly over at her, “NOT AS FRIENDLY AS YOU-“

“Say another word and I’ll go hang out with Paps!”

He gaped at her, before scowling, “I DON’T GET IT! I THOUGHT YOU LIKED PRANKING PEOPLE!”

“SHE DOES!” Papyrus called out, chiming in while still doing pull-ups.

“I do, but-…wait.” She moved so she could look at Black’s face, “Are-are you saying you were trying to prank me?? That it wasn’t just you being a jerk to Blue???”

He stopped, hanging from the bars to smirk at her, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘TRYING’?”

Her stunned look was enough to make Black drop, holding his sides as he laughed, “MWAH HAH HA! THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE!! HAH!”

“You utter cad!” She folded her arms crossly, “…..Damn it all, well done Black. You got me.”

He beamed, self-satisfaction and smugness oozing from him.

Before he could do much more of anything else, she quickly added, “But let’s keep the sexual harassment at a zero, shall we….IF, you can handle getting pranked in return.”

“I CAN HANDLE ANYTHING!” He posed, still in an elevated mood, “ESPECIALLY SEEING AS HOW YOU’VE AGREED TO BE WITH ME THE ENTIRE DAY! I SAY THERE’S NOT GOING TO BE ANY CHANCE OF YOU GETTING ME!”

Leaning on his ribcage, she grinned up at him, “Well then, game on, I say.”

~*~

Black had a point; there wasn’t much she could do stuck as she was to Black’s shoulder. She did briefly toy with tickling him or even touching his spine, but shot down both ideas very quickly. No, she wanted to prank him, not just get a reaction from him….or risk getting him angry again.

The morning passed quickly enough, with Black rotating between the three exercise equipment stations. Edge was keeping his distance and wouldn’t even look or acknowledge Y/n or Black, but Papyrus and Blueberry were more than happy compete with Black on whatever station they happened to meet him at. He got along best with Papyrus, but Y/n suspected he enjoyed Blueberry's company more (even if he obviously couldn’t stand Blueberry’s smugness and goofy grin whenever he met Y/n’s eye). There was something more to the competitive nature between him and Blue that spurred the other one on. Mutt, at some point, had moved in closer to watch, but any attempts to get him to participate had been flatly ignored. He ended up leaning against the old apple tree, Black’s bag at his feet as he smoked what appeared to be a regular cigarette for a change.

Y/n was happy to see Black happier than he had ever been since meeting him, and it was during the last part of the early morning that Papyrus offered him his cooking session with Y/n.

“Are you sure Papyrus? We didn’t exactly get a chance to cook yesterday.”

Papyrus waved her off, handing Black a bottle of water as Blueberry took his with a grateful smile, Edge having long since headed inside to change, “THIS WEEK WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A BIT STRANGE, SO I SEE NO REASON WHY I CAN’T BE MORE ACCOMMODATING.”

“I DIDN’T GET A CHANCE TO COOK YESTERDAY EITHER, BUT EVEN I WOULD OFFER MY DINNER SLOT IF I KNEW THERE WOULD BE A CHANCE FOR BLACK TO COOK.” Blueberry admitted.

“WHY?” Black asked, glaring at Blueberry.

He grinned, “BECAUSE IT’S FAIR…EVEN IF I DOUBT YOU OR EDGE WOULD DO THE SAME FOR ME.”

Black looked shocked to hear both skeletons say such things, toying with his bottle rather than open it.

“BESIDES, WHEN ELSE IS HE GOING TO GET A CHANCE TO COOK?” Papyrus asked, looking at her, “IF HE’S GOING TO BE LIVING HERE FULL TIME, IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THAT HE SHOULD GET A CHANCE TO COOK WITH YOU.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Y/n sipped for Blueberry’s lid, holding the lid awkwardly in her hands as she clung to Black’s back, “Problem is, there just isn’t a need to have four meals every day….not to mention that we’re slowly getting more leftovers in the fridge than we can eat.”

“HOW ABOUT A DAY INSTEAD?” Blueberry suggested, “EVERYBODY GETS ONE WHOLE DAY TO COOK!”

“THAT’S A WONDERFUL IDEA!” Papyrus said while Black nodded, thoughtfully.

“Four cooks and seven days? Unless one of your brothers wants to cook, I don’t see how that would work.”

Papyrus grinned, “FOUR DAYS OF COOKED MEALS, WITH TWO DAYS TO EAT LEFTOVERS AND SIMPLE DISHES LIKE SANDWICHES, WITH THE LAST DAY BEING A TAKEAWAY NIGHT WITH EITHER A MOVIE NIGHT OR A CARD NIGHT THAT WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO!”

“AWESOME!” Blueberry cried out, eagerly agreeing.

She turned to Black, “That work for you?”

He folded his arms, “GOING FROM NOT BEING ALLOWED TO COOK AT ALL TO BEING THE ONLY CHIEF FOR A FULL DAY? YES, I THINK I PREFER IT LIKE THIS.”

Taking that as a yes, she handed her lid back to Blueberry, “Sounds like we’ve got a plan. Until Black and Mutt’s house has been built, I still say days are going to be a bit weird, so how about we rotate order, rather than meals until we get the days sorted?”

“SO, BLACK COOKS NOW, THEN IT’S MINE TURN, NO MATTER WHAT MEAL IT IS?” Blueberry, cheekily.

She grinned, “How about you and Papyrus play scissors, paper, rock for it.”

“WHAT?” Papyrus asked.

She quickly explained the rules (reassuring them multiple times that yes, paper beats rock and yes, that makes sense), and Papyrus and Blueberry faced off.

Blueberry won, but the way Papyrus congratulated him made Y/n think he had lost on purpose. Regardless, he suggested Edge go before him.

“That’s really nice of you Paps.”

He blushed at her compliment, rubbing the back of his skull, “I-I DON’T THINK SO. I JUST LIKE SEEING EVERYONE GETTING ALONG, THAT’S ALL!”

She grinned, patting Black’s shoulder, “I know exactly what you mean. I haven’t felt this good since a bit before the beach.”

“IT IS GOOD TO SEE THINGS SETTLING AGAIN.” Blueberry nodded, before looking at the house, “WELL, ALMOST SETTLE. EDGE SEEMS UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING.”

“PROBABLY WRITHING IN JEALOUSY THAT THE PET SLEPT WITH ME AND ME ALONE LAST NIGHT!” Black boasted.

“Black.” She warned.

Rolling his eyes, Black folded his arms and strode off to the house with Papyrus, Blueberry and Mutt following close behind him.

“MUTT!” Black looked over to see his brother lagging behind everyone, “I WANT YOU TO GATHER THE REST OF OUR ORDERS AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED BEFORE BREAKFAST! YOU HAVE AN HOUR.”

He bowed his head, holding out the bag he had been carrying to Black. Once Black had taken it from him, he blipped out of existence.

“AN HOUR’S NOT A LOT OF TIME. SHOULD I GET SANS TO HELP HIM?” Papyrus offered.

Black scoffed, opening the back door and leaving it open as the other two followed him inside, “THAT LAZY BAG OF BONES IS NO HELP TO ANYONE!”

“which bag of bones are you referring to?”

Sans, Stretch and Red were sitting on the couch, watching the television and each nursing a cup of coffee, none of them looking particular wide awake yet.

“THE SHORT, UGLY, FAT, NOSEY, ONE!” Black snapped, stopping to glare at Sans.

Sans playfully nudged Red next to him, “that only narrows it down to you and me, eh red?”

While Red narrowed his eyes at the grinning Sans, Stretch placed his cup on the coffee table before reaching down and taking his legs off, tossing them across the room.

“there, now it could be any one of us.”

“we’re not that short, smartarse!” Red growled as Sans nodded, also looking indigent.

Stretch shrugged, picking up his cup, “guess i’ll have to settle being the short, cute one then.”

Y/n couldn’t help by giggle, which was not helped by Stretch winking at her.

Black took a quick glance over to see her laughing before storming off to the kitchen in a huff, leaving behind Papyrus and a putout Blueberry, who was sighing as he picked up his brother’s legs.

“What’s wrong, Black?” she asked, as Black tossed his bag into the far corner and began to go through the kitchen, angrily slamming cardboards.

“NOTHING!”

She jumped onto the nearest bench, turning to glare up him. “Okay, stop Black!”

He turned and slammed his hands on either side of her, glaring down at her.

She didn’t flinch as she met his fuming eyes, “You wanna try telling me what’s actually wrong or do you want to skip to the part where you keep it bottled and storm out of the room?”

There was a moment of silence where he glared at her neutral face, waiting.

“I-I DON’T KNOW WHY SEEING THEM LAUGHING REALLY TICKS ME OFF!” He looked off to the side, “SEE-SEEING YOU LAUGH AT THEIR STUPID JOKES WAS ALSO INFURIATING!”

She followed his gaze outside, taking her time to form her response.

“I’m…sorry that you don’t like it, but you can’t demand that others stop making jokes or laughing. I will give you credit that you left the room rather than yell and threaten, but it’s also something that you’re going to have to…work on.” She looked up at him, “Maybe it’s how I laughed? Do I have an annoying laugh or something?”

Black pushed himself away, folding his arms, “I DON’T KNOW! I’VE NEVER HEARD YOU LAUGH MUCH WHEN YOU’RE NEAR ME!”

“Really? Huh,” She smiled up at him, “guess that’s something we can look forward to happening more often, now that we’re friends…right?”

He dropped, his arms, “R-RIGHT.”

“Great.” She blushed and looked quickly away, “Now maybe you could put on a shirt?”

Being on him wasn’t so bad, but there was no way she wouldn’t stare if she had to sit here and watch him work! Seeing how his top half worked was like watching a living clockwork and WHY WHERE HER CHEEKS SO RED!?!

“OH?” He lowered his face, filling her vision with his knowing smirk, “DOES MY IMPRESSIVE BODY INTIMATE YOU, PET?”

She pushed him away, furiously blush, “Stop being a br-jerk. Ju-just put on your shirt already or else you’ll have batter covering your ribs too.”

He turned away chuckling, giving Y/n the space she needed to rub her face and scream in silence.

When the hell had seeing a ribcage put her on the edge of immature giggles?? Was it the beach, was it just knowing that it was their equivalent of being near naked, or was it all she was repressing from this morning between her and Blue??

She didn’t know, and judging by Black’s smugness, he had every intention of exploiting that flaw to drive her absolutely insane!

Black soon came back, now wearing a plain black shirt with a white devil wings design on its back. He held a hand open to her, expectantly, which she quickly hoped onto to before being lifted onto his shoulder.

“Right, so what do you want to cook for breakfast?” she asked.

“WE’RE HAVING BURRITOS.” He proclaimed, waving a hand at all the ingredients he had already pulled out.

Spying the mince, she instead suggested, “How about we change this into breakfast burritos?”

“WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?”

She shrugged, “More eggs, less mince. It’s just something that’s more appropriate for breakfast.”

He seemed to consider it, before throwing his head back, ”MWAH HAH HA! I DON’T KNOW WHY I’M SURPRISED! BURRITOS ARE THE BEST FOOD; OF COURSE THEY HAVE MULTIPLE FORMS THAT COVER EVERY MEAL OF EVERY DAY! WHEN I’M COOKING, I WILL GET THE CHANCE TO SHOW YOU JUST A FRACTION OF THE MANY ITERATIONS BURRITOS CAN TAKE!”

“Looking forward to it.”

Seriously, if he didn’t put something weird in it like the oth- and there’s glue and more glitter on the bench.

“What’s the glue and glitter for?” She asked, feeling dread filling her stomach.

She never had to eat any of the dishes the other cooks had made when they first got here (each horrible in their own way), but it had been a very long, still improving progress that really showed her just how far she had helped them improve.

And they had fought her every step. Most times it wasn’t on purpose….most times.

Black grinned, picking up the glue, “FRESH, QUALITY INGREDIENTS, BROUGHT JUST YESTERDAY! THE VERY BEST THAT MONEY CAN AFFORD!”

“Breakfast burritos do not have glue or glitter in them.” She said, flatly.

He scoffed, grinning, “UNTIL NOW!”

She leapt for the bench again, turning to place her hands on her hips, “No, they don’t. If you want me to cook with you, to have a cooking LESSON with me, then you have to do everything I say.”

“WHAT ABOUT ‘STAYING WITH ME’ FOR THE WHOLE DAY??” Black shrieked.

“Sorry Black. I have the same rules as everyone.” She gestured around the room, “If you want to cook without me, go ahead. Just don’t expect me to ever want to join you for cooking lessons if you do.”

Black meet her unflinching gaze, before tossing the glue away where it bounced across the bench.

“I DIDN’T SEE YOU LECTURE THE EDGE LORD LIKE THIS!” Black bitterly snapped, glaring at her.

“Who?”

“EDGE!”

She shrugged, “That’s because you weren’t here for his first lesson. If you were, you would have seen just how stubborn he was. He’s improved a lot to the point that I don’t really need to do much beyond keep an eye on him though.”

Black laughed derisively, “THE-EDGE WOULD NEVER ADMIT TO HIS FLAWED SKILLS REQUIRING IMPROVEMENT!”

“If you plan to ask him, I would phrase that question a lot politer. But there is one thing that I do know, that he does like that he definitely didn’t have before.” she grinned up at Black, seeing as she had his full, undivided attention, “I know he enjoys having everyone eating everything he cooks instead of ducking out to buy something instead.”

Black folded his arms, “MY BROTHER ALWAYS EATS EVERY SINGLE SCRAP OF FOOD I SERVE HIM! HE SAYS MY FOOD IS THE BEST IN THE UNDERGROUND!"

“And everyone else?”

Judging by his lack of answer, she knew that he noticed it when the others had probably made excuses not to eat burritos filled with glitter and glue.

“Know what’s going to be great when you improve your cooking skills?”

She waited for him to look up, shaking his head.

She grinned, “When everyone eats every single bite off their plates and goes in for seconds.”

“I-I’VE NEVER HAD ANYONE HAVE SECONDS OF WHAT I’VE COOKED FOR THEM.” He replied in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Y/n leapt for his shirt, scaling up to his shoulder and ignoring her aches as she sat down, beaming.

“Let’s see what we can’t do to fix that?”

~*~

Black, was easily the best student she had so far. He absorbed everything she had to tell him, seeming eager to prove that she didn’t need to correct his technique. She did, but she quickly discovered if she phrased it as something she saw expert chiefs doing or read about in some fancy cooking book, he would correct his own technique without much fuss, improving the longer he worked.

Oh, and he thrived off positive reinforcement.

“These look really good Black!”

Black beamed, glowing in pride as he held the tray of cooked burritos. Indeed, they looked and smelled good, and she was more than happy to praise him, especially seeing how he reacted to her doing so.

It was certainly better than thinking he thought so little of her that her opinion about anything didn’t even matter at all to him.

When Papyrus and Blueberry had come in moments ago to gather dishes and utensils to set the table, Black had sent them away, saying that he didn’t need their help.

“It’s not about need, Black, it’s about being nice and just offering a hand.” Y/n had said as Papyrus and Blueberry left the room.

Black scoffed, levitating the plates, utensils and drinks up as he carried the tray of burritos into the dining room, “IF I WANTED THEM TO HELP, I WOULD HAVE ASKED.”

“OF COURSE BLACK!” Papyrus said, sitting next to Blueberry, “BUT HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THAT WE GET MORE THINGS DONE QUICKER AND FASTER AS A TEAM?”

“EVEN EDGE HELPS US CLEAN AND SET UP.” Blueberry added.

“Where is Edge?” she asked, looking around as Sans and Stretch came wandering in.

“upstairs.” Sans said, taking his place at the table, “red’s gone up to talk to him.”

“Think I should go and check up on them?”

Y/n was thinking about this morning and how he hadn’t said one word to her today, much less look at her.

Black scowled, “IF THAT NARCISSISTIC EDGE LORD WANTS TO EXCLUDE HIMSELF FROM EATING MY PERFECTED DISHES, HE AND THAT SLOB OF A BROTHER OF HIS CAN JUST STAY AWAY!”

“Uncalled for Black.” She growled at him, pushing herself off his shoulder to land with a wince on the table, “Don’t just assume you know why he’s up there.” She turned to face him, watching him take his place at the other head end of the table, “Don’t get me wrong, if it turns out you’re right about him choosing to go hungry than eating what you’ve cooked, then that’s rude of him….BUT don’t act like you haven’t done the exact same thing yourself.”

Black scowled, looking quickly away, “SO MUCH FOR NEW BEGINNINGS, PET!”

“It’s called ‘empathy’ Black. Don’t forget; you refused to eat what he cooked first. If you’re expecting an apology, you’ll need to apologise first.”

He refused to look at her, instead choosing to serve himself and a plate off to the side, before tearing into his burrito aggressively.

Sighing, Y/n made her way to her table, setting herself down before looking at everyone else, ignoring the looks of surprise on everyone’s face.

“Tuck in everyone.” She smiled, gesturing to a Black who was keeping a sharp eye on her from the corner of his eye, steadfast pretending he wasn’t. “Black worked really hard on these, and I have to say, they smelled awesome coming out of the oven.”

“they do look pretty good.” Sans was sweating lightly as he asked her, “did, um, did any….’sticky’ ingredients make their way into this recipe?”

“or anything that ‘glitters’?” Stretch asked, looking sickeningly down at the burrito tray.

She laughed, realising that if Blueberry must have used to cook every dish with glitter and Stretch had probably gotten used to not having the stuff anymore, “Not from a lack of trying on his part, but no, they’re perfectly fine. Promise.”

That seemed to settle them, but apprehension still lingered on both their faces as they served themselves, with Papyrus already tucking into his.

“THIS IS REALLY GOOD BLACK!” he exclaimed, the fork still in his mouth as he chewed.

“R-REALLY??” Black quickly snapped out of his baffled reaction to Papyrus's praise to puff out his chest, beaming in delight, “WHAT AM I SAYING; OF COURSE IT’S THE GREATEST FOOD YOU’VE EVER EATEN!”

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT-“

“TELL ME, CREAM-PAPYRUS, WHAT ABOUT IT DO YOU FIND SIMPLY THE BEST?!”

Papyrus grinned back at Black, going in for another bite.

“WHY, I’M REALLY ENJOYING HOW THE SCRAMBLED EGGS ARE COOKED JUST RIGHT (EVEN IF THE BACON NEEDED MORE TIME ON THE PAN), AND THE BURRITO IS NICE AND SOFT!”

“I ALWAYS KNEW THAT BURRITOS WERE SUPERIOR TO TACOS.” Black smirked at Blueberry, who had just finished serving himself one.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Blueberry exclaimed, “NOTHING IS BETTER THAN TACOS!”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE; PASTA IS OBVIOUSLY THE SUPERIOR DISH!” Papyrus proclaimed, posing as Black scowled at Blueberry.

“IT IS NOT!” Blueberry looked quickly at Y/n, who had just managed to sit back down after fetching her small (but still comically sized to her) burrito, “LET’S ASK Y/N!”

“YES! Y/N CAN BE OUR IMPARTIAL JUDGE.” Papyrus meet her eye, giving her the full puppy-eyes look.

Black narrowed his eyes at her, “SHE’S GOING TO AGREE WITH ME….AREN’T YOU? NEW BEST FRIEND, WHO HAS VOWED THAT TODAY WILL BE A BETTER DAY FOR ME.”

She sighed, dropping her fork onto her plate, “There’s isn’t a right or wrong answer here guys; it comes down to mood and personal preference.” She gestured a hand to Sans and Stretch, “It would be like if your brothers asked me what condiment was better.”

Sans and Stretch eyed each other, before grinning and looking back at her, “well y/n? which is better?”

“should be easy enough, considering red and mutt aren’t here, so you don’t have to lie to avoid their hurting their feelings.”

“….Mutt drinks condiments too?”

They both nodded, waiting still for her answer.

She rolled her eyes, “No way I’m answering that, ever. The courts couldn’t get me to play along with their rulings, so good luck trying to get me to confess to anything.”

Everyone chuckled, but let the topic go as they all tucked into their burritos. Everyone had the same look of surprise turned into delight as they ate, but Y/n was watching Black’s reaction more. When the rest of the table got around to praising his cooking, his head dropped to the table, toying with his own burrito. Every time someone went back for another bite, she watched him slowly look up from glaring at his plate to face the rest of the table, his face softening as everyone ate.

He seemed content to just sit there, watching everyone and taking his time to linger at the table today; a first. There was still an awkwardness there, residual tension, but it was still progress.

_‘If only the rest of the skeletons were here.’_

Thinking about the skeletons missing, she turned and asked Black, “So, where’s Mutt?”

“STILL GETTING SUPPLIES.” Black said, his eyes darted down to her empty plate, before looking at her with a grin, “HOW DID YOU ENJOY PERFECTION?”

She grinned back, “It was pretty good, but it’s still a fair way from ‘perfection’.”

His grin turned smug, “I THINK THAT’S YOU REFUSING TO ADMIT THAT I DON’T NEED COOKING LESSONS! THAT I WAS PERFECT TO BEGIN WITH AND YOU JUST CAN’T ADMIT THAT!”

“Oh? So are you saying you don’t need any more cooking lessons? That perhaps I should be sitting here with everyone else from now on?”

She watched his grin falter, before suddenly coming back in full force, “PERHAPS IT IS YOU THAT REQUIRES LESSONS! PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HANG AROUND ME FOR EVERY MEAL SO THAT YOU CAN LEARN A THING OR TWO FROM THE MASTER, AND PASS ON MY WISDOM TO THE WANNABEE COOKS IN THIS HOUSE! MWAH HAH HA!”

“nice to see you two getting along.” Sans grinned, looking between them with a hint of genuine shock in his eyes.

“so what changed?” Stretch asked, sitting back in his chair.

As Black mood quickly turned, leaving him scowling again, Y/n shrugged, “Nothing really. We just talked and-“

“AND NOTHING!” Black snapped, overriding her.

After a moment of looking at him, she continued firmly, “And we came to an understanding. That’s it, really.”

Stretch was watching her carefully, before smiling widely, “well, i’m glad then. sure hope this means the house can get back into the calm, settled state it was in before the beach day.”

“Me too.” Y/n smiled back.

“I TOLD EVERYONE IT WOULD WORK OUT!” Papyrus cried out, leaping from his chair, “EVERYONE HAD THEIR DOUBTS EVEN AS I TOLD EVERYONE THAT EVERYTHING WOULD BE JUST FINE! THAT Y/N AND BLACK WOULD BECOME THE BEST OF FRIENDS AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE BETTER THAN IT EVER WAS BACK AT THE OLD HOUSE!”

“not hard to beat that paps.” Sans muttered, looking out the window thoughtfully.

Papyrus continued on, unperturbed, “THEN EVEN BETTER THAN BEFORE THEY CAME HERE, NOW THAT BLACK AND MUTT HAVE REJOINED OUR FAMILY AGAIN!”

“WE’RE NOT A ‘FAMILY’, YOU SIMPLETON!” Black yelled, indigent, “I DON’T WANT ANY OF YOU AS MY BROTHERS!”

“BUT IN A WAY, WE’RE ALL BROTHERS-!”

“paps.” Sans said quickly, looking at Y/n quickly.

But Y/n merely watched as Papyrus quickly left the room and came back with the cross-stitch that they kept at the front wall, facing the front door, “WE MAY NOT BE SOUL RELATED, BUT OUR BOUNDS CAN BE JUST AS STRONG AS ANY FAMILY! ONE WHERE WE SUPPORT AND HELP EACH OTHER THROUGH UNBREAKABLE FRIENDSHIPS! WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON, SO MANY SHARED INTERESTS, IT JUST MAKES SENSE!”

She looked away from the cross-stitch to look at Black, “I know I’m still getting us to the idea of both a new family and the idea that a family doesn't have to be related….but I guess it comes back to having people that you could absolutely trust enough to wanna do everything you can for them in return.”

“THEN NO ONE HERE IS MY FAMILY!” he folded his arms, “I SAW THAT SAD CROSS-STITCH ON MY FIRST NIGHT HERE.” He laughed, “IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT THIS,” he gestured to the house and everyone at large, “MAKES UP A FAMILY, THEN YOU’RE EVEN MORE CHILDLIKE THAN THE CHILD!”

Before anyone could reply, Y/n had finished making her way over to Black and was patting his folded arm, “Easy Black. Little steps, remember? Let’s see if we can’t get along before using words like ‘family’.”

She turned to face Papyrus, “Right Paps?”

“I-I,” his eyes darted between her and Black, before eventually letting out a long sigh as his shoulders sagged, “OKAY.”

Nodding, Y/n leapt up and scaled Black’s shoulder, coming to sit next to his skull, “So, how about instead, we clear the table and get back to building?”

“’WE’?” Black asked, smirking.

“I swear Black, I’m going to get you back for pointing that out at every chance you get.”

“ONLY WHEN YOU INSIST THAT YOU’RE ‘HELPING’ PET.” He grinned, standing up and gathering dishes.

“LET US HELP, BLACK!” Blueberry quickly offered, already on his feet.

Black ignored him, and would have continued ignoring him if Y/n hadn’t tapped the side of his head.

“You’ll be done quicker.” She pointed out to him.

He stood there, looking from her, to around the table, before rolling his eyes as he said, “FINE! BUT YOUR CLEANING SKILLS HAD BETTER BE LIGHTYEARS BETTER THAN YOUR COOKING SKILLS!”

Papyrus was already gathering things when Blueberry retorted, “MY COOKING AND CLEANING SKILLS CAN ONLY BE MEASURED IN LIGHTYEARS!”

“YEAH?? WELL, MY IMPRESSIVE SKILLS CAN ONLY BE MEASURED IN PARSECS!”

“MINE IN GIGAPARSECS!”

“You know,” Y/n spoke up over the pair as Sans and Stretch moved into the kitchen, “while you two are arguing, Sans and Stretch have both done more cleaning than either one of you.”

That got them; both skeletons gasped loudly and looked quickly to the kitchen, to see said skeletons grinning at them as they slowly dried dishes. With a wild cry, they fought each other to get into the kitchen first, quickly fetching tea towels and furiously drying dishes and putting them away. Papyrus seemed more than happy to scrub as fast as he could while Sans and Stretch were still on the same plate, talking to each other with grins over by the small kitchen table.

Y/n was talking to Blueberry on Black’s shoulder as both skeletons finished drying the last plates in less of a rush now, when Black looked away from their conversation and over towards the kitchen’s entrance.

“YOU’RE LATE. CAN I ASSUME YOU’VE GOT ALL THAT I ASKED FOR?”

Turning around, Y/n saw Mutt standing in the archway of the kitchen, his hands in his jacket’s pockets, watching her.

Mutt bowed his head towards Black, saying as he did, “sorry for the delay m’lord, but i was at least able to get what you asked.”

“GOOD.” Quickly, Black grabbed the plate he had carried from the kitchen table with a serving of burrito on it, pushing it eagerly into his brother’s hands, “EAT THIS AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT!”

Mutt lifted the burrito up by its end, raising it up and swallowing the whole thing in one go.

Smiling with a deeper head bow, Mutt handed the plate back and praised flatly, “i think it is the greatest thing anyone on the entire planet has ever had the privilege to eat.”

Black’s shoulder’s slumped as he took the plate back, “I ALREADY KNOW I’M THE GREATEST CHIEF EVER, BUT I WANT TO KNOW HOW I COMPARE TO ME. WAS IT BETTER THAN NORMAL?”

“perfect as always, m’lord.”

Black searched his brother’s expression for a moment, before looking around to seeing everyone else watching the pair. Scowling, Black tossed the dirty plate into the now empty sink.

“LET’S GET STARTED ALREADY.” He mumbled.

“hold up black.”

Black turned away from the kitchen archway to see Sans looking closely at him.

“mind if i ask y/n a question really quick.”

Black looked between him and Stretch, seeing the same casual smile mask on both of their faces before huffing, “FINE!”

Picking her from his shoulder, he dropped her onto the kitchen bench and walked away and past his brother, the back door slamming in the distance.

“Bad timing Sans.” She said, picking herself up.

“sorry kid, but i had to ask you a question.” He moved in closer, looking her over, “mind telling me what’s with all the bruises?”

Y/n looked quickly over at Mutt, who had gone back to leaning on the archway, watching her closely, before looking back to Sans, Stretch, Papyrus and Blueberry waiting for her answer.

“…I’m not going to lie to you guys, but that doesn’t mean I have to tell you what happened. Just know that it’s already been sorted out and that won’t happen again.”

Mutt cocked an eyebrow in surprise, but she was paying more attention to Sans’s reaction.

His smile turned down at the corners, “kid…you-you’d tell us if we had anything to worry about, right? you know that you can trust us to help you?”

She smiled softly, “Yeah, I do know that. I promise, if I was in any danger or needed the help, I would defiantly ask. I-I trust you guys enough for that.” She looked around the room,” I know I look bad right now, but I'll heal.”

“need some more monster candy?” Stretch asked, already moving to a cardboard as Mutt turned to leave.

Y/n waved him off, “Too late for that, I’m afraid. Look, I don’t know how much you guys know about skin and muscles, but it’s not that hard to cause bruises, and they always look worse than they really are.”

When no one looked happier, she sighed, “If you guys expect me to trust you enough to ask for help, than you’ve got to trust me enough to believe me when I say I’m good. Now, come on, we’ve-I mean, you guys have got a house to build.”

~*~

Everyone (with the exception of Red and Edge) was standing outside in the morning light, looking once again at Black’s blueprints held up by a bone skewing them up. Black hadn’t said anything when Y/n had asked Sans to carry her over to him, but once she was sitting on his shoulder, it did feel like his shoulder’s relaxed somewhat. A pile of new building supplies rested off to the side of the building site, surprising Y/n with just how much there was.

“How did you ever manage to get all of this stuff by yourself Mutt?” she asked, turning to ask him.

He merely shrugged, standing off to the side.

“OKAY! TODAY, WE HAVE A LOT TO DO, SO YOU HAD BETTER DO A BETTER JOB AT –“

She nudged the side of Black’s head, interrupting him as she leaned quickly in to whisper quietly, “Just tell them what needs to be done.”

He glared at her for a moment, before saying to the others, “…WE’RE DOING THE PLUMBING AND PUTTING UP THE OUTSIDE WALLS FIRST.”

“BAGS DOING THE WALLS!” Blueberry called out, already dragging his brother over to the pile of hammers and nails.

“FOLLOW THE PLANS, CHILD!” Black called angrily after him, “DON’T THINK I WON’T SHATTER YOUR HAND BONES IF I SEE THAT YOU’VE PLACED THE WOODEN PANELS UP IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY FORM A STUPID SHAPE!”

Blueberry’s only response was to stick out his tongue, hugging the supplies to his chest as he carried them away.

“WHY THAT LITTLE-!“

“Ease up, Black.” She said, patting him, “I’m sure Blue wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“AND IF HE DOES??”

She thought about it, before calling out to him, “Hey Blue? You wouldn’t do anything blatantly disrespectful to someone’s house, would you?”

“….NO?”

She smiled back, “Good, because I would be very disappointed if it turns out you lied to me.”

Blueberry gulped, but nodded solemnly, turning away to get started.

“See? Problem solved.”

Black scoffed, “AS IF I COULD JUST TRUST ANYTHING THAT MANIPULATIVE LAIR HAS TO SAY!” He called out to his brother, “MUTT! SEE TO IT THAT THE CHILD BEHAVES.”

Mutt nodded, and walked over to join Blueberry and Stretch.

Turning to Sans and Papyrus, Black assigned Sans to cut the lengths of pipe they needed, while he and Papyrus would put it together.

“Finally! Something I can help with.” She grinned.

“HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY HELP?” Black asked, looking away from his plans as he held the first length of pipe in his hand.

“Guess you’ll have to wait and find out, right Black?”

~*~

What she could do, what was unique to her and her size, was her ability to fit into the pipes and check possible leaks and weak spots. With her help, Papyrus and Black were able to put together the system as fast as Sans was cutting out new pipes, freed as they were for having to double check each system. As the plumbing system grew and expanded through the house, Black separated from Papyrus, just as Blueberry, Stretch and Mutt did likewise as they put up more wooden panels.

“I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE AGILE Y/N, BUT I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD CLIMB THIS WELL!” Papyrus exclaimed as she popped her head out of the end of the pipe he was about to install the next piece to.

She beamed, “It’s like being a kid again and finding yourself in a playground with all the tubes!”

“must be because of your ancestors,” Sans called out, watching her as he continued cutting, “you’re _chimpy_ marvellous at climbing.”

She rolled her eyes playfully, “I was majoring in monkey business in university.”

As Sans and Stretch both snickered, Black called out, “QUIT MONKEYING AROUND AND GET BACK HERE!”

Laughing, she turned away from Papyrus quietly struggling not to laugh and slide back down the pipe she had just climbed. When she got to the bottom, she chose the pipe that lead towards Black and climbed up it, travelling through the system via a serious of ups and downs.

…And got lost.

“Mind calling out to me again Black?” she asked out loudly, as her voice rang out in the pipes.

She expected him to call out, so it was rather disturbing when his voice came right next to her instead, a dark shadow illuminated on the plastic tube’s walls, “I THOUGHT YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING? DIDN’T YOU IGNORE MY WARNINGS AND ASSURE ME THAT YOU ‘WOULDN’T GET LOST BECAUSE YOU DO THIS ALL THE TIME’?”

“…So I overestimated my abilities to not get turned around and I may have incorrectly compared my experience in the ventilation as being the same as the plumbing.”

She stubbornly ignored the chuckles of what sounded like all the guys gathering in for a look.

“Look, if anyone of you bone bags wants to help me here, I’d greatly appreciate it!”

“what’s happenin’ here?” Red’s voice called out, from a distance away.

“Red!”

Guessing he was towards the front entrance, and thus near the start of the plumbing system, Y/n eagerly headed towards the direction of his voice.

“QUITE PERVE!” Black snapped, his voice following her as she travelled “YOU’RE RUNNING OUR FUN!”

“IT’S NOT ABOUT ‘FUN’,” Papyrus insisted, “IT’S ABOUT Y/N DOING THIS HERSELF!”

“right.” Red said, disinterested, his voice moving away, “so Sans, how much longer till the house’s built?”

“WE’D BE MUCH FARTHER AHEAD IF YOU AND YOUR BROTHER WOULD ACTUALLY HELP!” Black said, turning around.

“Black.” Y/n warned, but unable to do anything, trapped as she was.

Red didn’t reply, but Sans did, “hard to say, honestly. why? how’s edge?”

“boss is…just fine.”

There was a tightness to Red’s voice that warned the others not to pry.

“that’s all you’re out here for then?” Sans asked.

Rather than answer, Red’s voice called out to her, “hey y/n! boss wants to know if you’ll have time to cook lunch with him.”

“I SAID TO ASK HER DISCREETLY, YOU IDIOT!” Edge’s voice called out in the far distance.

“Is that Edge??” Y/n asked, really wishing she could see beyond her world of plastic. The only good thing about all of this yelling was that it was helping guide her to fresh air and light.

“IS THAT EDGE ON MY BALCONY??” Blueberry asked, his voice hurrying away. “HEY!” he called out, “DON’T GO THROUGH MY THINGS EDGE!”

“WHY WOULD I EVER WANT TO GO THROUGH YOUR THINGS??” Edge yelled back, outraged.

“…NO REASON! JUST DON’T, OKAY!?”

The rest of the skeletons were still snickering when Y/n, at last, managed to find the end, popping out onto the floor.

“Freedom!” She cried, triumphantly and exuberant to be free once again.

A purple gloved hand snatched her from the floor, lifting her up to a scowling face, “MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’LL LISTEN TO ME WHEN I WARN YOU ABOUT BAD IDEAS!”

She squirmed in Black’s grasp, gasping in pain as he pressed on her bruises, “Ow, Black!”

He quickly flipped his hand over and let her go, leaving Y/n to rest on his hand, rubbing her sore spots.

“why are you in pain?” Red asked, coming over to look at her.

Seeing the bruises, he looked up at Black, “why’s she covered in bruises, brat?”

“Red, it’s okay! It’s just-“

She was promptly ignored as Black placed her on his shoulder, Red‘s fists curling at his side as Black chested up to him and Mutt came to stand behind him.

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, PERVE.” Black hissed.

The moment Y/n saw red magic flair for Red’s eye, she leapt for him, clinging to his jacket. That action was enough to startle him and the magic vanished from his eye as quickly as it had come.

“Don’t fight! Just listening to me, for one-“

Red grabbed her, pulling her into his chest, before reality around was warped around her and Y/n experienced, yet again, the sensation of falling forever in less than a second. When it finally stopped, nausea replaced her anxiety over Red and Black fighting, leaving her sick to her stomach and emotionally numb.

Hanging limply in his grasp, Y/n covered her mouth with both of her hands, waiting for her nausea to pass. She felt, rather than saw, the wind whipping around her, letting her know she had been pulled away from Red’s chest, somewhere outside still.

“deep breaths babydoll.” Red’s voice cooed, close to her.

Opening her eyes, she saw that they were in what looked like a large park, sitting on the water fountain feature at its centre. There were a lot of people walking around them (with more than a few doing a double take on them just appearing like this….or maybe it was just seeing a skeleton monster holding a bitty in his hand), with many large trees, beautiful gardens and winding footpaths.

Seeing her looking around, Red smiled softly at her, “hee, feelin' better?”

She responded by frowning up at, mildly irritated, “Why did you just take me like that? I was trying to explain.”

“why??” He placed her by his side, on the water fountain, before lowering his face towards her, “you’re absolutely covered in bruises y/n! i sure as shit know they weren’t there when i last saw ya, so mind ‘explainin’ ter me what the fuck happened??”

People around them were staring now, moving away, but Y/n hardly acknowledge them as she retorted, “What happened wasn’t that much different than the other times I got hurt by either you or Edge, Red.”

Y/n watched as she saw a look of surprise cross his face, followed by a flash of pain before he turned his head away.

Sighing, she called out, “Red, please look at me.”

He didn’t move.

Taking action, she moved in closer, making a jump for his arm, before scaling up to his shoulder.

Kneeling, she tapped the side of his head gently, “Come on Red. Don’t make me crawl up your leg to get your attention.”

Sighing, he turned and peered at her from the corner of his eye.

“What I meant to say is…well, things are rough right now between me and Black…and Mut, actually, but we’re working through them. I’m covered in bruises, sure, but they were an accident Red…just like they once were for you and Edge.”

“why is he worth all this effort?” Red asked, with a growl, “he sure as shit doesn’t seem to care about being liked, and his brother seems to have decided he’d rather be alone.”

Y/n moved her legs so she was sitting comfortably instead, “You make it sound like Mutt was once more open than this.”

Red shrugged, “yeah? well, he once was, but he’s not no more, so what does it matter?”

“I…I don’t know.” She leaned against his skull, “But I think it’s worth the effort. I know I’m happier that I managed to be friends with both you and Edge. I’m glad we got past our differences and that it all worked out in the end, so, I guess you could say I’m hoping the same thing with them.”

“really?” he asked her, in surprise.

“Really.”

There was a pause, before Red leaned his head into her, nuzzling her slightly.

Patting his cheek, she said, “We good Red?”

“….yeah….i guess.”

She smiled weakly, “Good, then maybe you can tell me what’s wrong with Edge?”

“……..i think you need to ask him yourself, kid.”

She pushed herself away from his cheek, “Did-did I do something wrong?”

Red sighed, looking over at her, “no, but you do need to talk to him.”

“Guess that’s another reason to head back.” She looked around, “Where did you take me anyway?”

Red stood up, looking around, “just some park i once visited. figured it be…more quite than this, actually.”

“We are getting a lot of stares, aren’t we?” she asked, grinning.

He returned her grin, “shame we can’t hang around and mess with them, but ah well.” He looked over at her on his shoulder, “ready to go back?”

“I have no clue how you manage to do this on regular bases.” She groaned, pressing herself firmly against his neck and clinging to his jacket.

He chuckled, before asking, “what's with that comment you made about ‘climbing up my leg’?”

“Oh, that’s a reference to-“

The world warped around her once again, and Y/n found herself still explaining the joke before she noticed that they were on the upstair’s bedroom landing, back home. Nausea and her anxiety came back, but not as full-forced as they had before.

“-a stereotypical fear women use to have about rats-“ she groaned, clinging to her stomach.

“that easier than before?” Red asked, looking over at her.

She nodded, “The distraction trick? Yeah, but it still sucks.”

“you know about that trick?” Red asked her, quickly.

“Yeah, *hurp* Stretch told me about it.”

He looked disappointed, “right.”

Red walked over to Blueberry’s door and peered inside.

There was no one it there.

“Okay, you and Edge are defiantly getting a strike or something for going into Blue’s room like this.” She said, crossly.

“didn’t you do something similar to us?” Red asked, closing it and moving over to Edge’s door.

“I did, but I was under the impression that I made up for my mistake.”

Red shrugged, “going to a beach is hardly what i’d call a ‘punishment’. don’t forget, you’ve promised us another day out.”

“…I guess I did.” She looked over at him, “Any ideas about what I can be expecting from that?”

Red laughed, “oh hell no! i am not givin' you any heads up about that!” he grinned down at her, “consider that the punishment.”

“Oh come on Red!”

Still snickering, Red reached up and knocked on Edge’s door, where it immediately opened wide.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT??” Edge asked, standing in the doorway.

Red gestured to Y/n on his shoulder, “you said to ask about lunch?”

Y/n quickly nodded, looking at Edge, “If you want to cook lunch with me, my answer was, and still is, yes.”

Edge scowled down at her, “IT’S STILL TOO EARLY TO START COOKING. WHY ARE YOU HERE NOW?”

“I-“ She looked over at Red, to see him nodding, “I’m here because I want to know what’s wrong.”

“NOTHING’S WRONG!” Edge spat, moving back to close the door.

“Wait!”

He left the fraction of his door open, peering back at her, glowering.

“Can-can I come in?” she asked.

Edge looked quickly away, and his door snapped shut behind him.

Before she had a chance to sigh, his door was opening again and his long arm was reaching out to her, his palm flat and waiting.

“good luck babydoll.” Red said, lifting her onto his hand and levelling it to Edge’s.

“Red.” She said, turning to look back at him as she remained on his palm. When he was looking down at her, she continued, “I’m not asking for instant friendship between all you guys, but if you could do me a favour and just…ease up on Black and Mutt, it would mean the world to me.”

Red’s grin fell, “and why would i bother doing that?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean, why be nice to anyone, right?”

Edge’s hand snapped its fingers impatiently, before levelling back out.

Red tipped her into Edge’s palm, before saying, reluctantly, “guess i can see if it’s worth the effort.”

Y/n smiled softly up at him, “Thanks Red.”

Edge brought his hand back into his room, snapping the door shut in front of Red’s returning smile. He carried her over to the desk, tipping her off his palm as he sat down on his chair, lounging back.

“SO YOU’RE HERE, WITH ME.” Edge looked away and out the window, “NOW WHAT?”

“Now I can tell you that I missed talking to you this morning.” Y/n admitted, figuring she’d come clean.

Edge looked quickly at her in surprise, “REALLY??”

“Yeah.”

She took that moment to look around his room, noticing that the dark interior wasn’t that dark with the curtains opened. Everything in here was immaculately kept; clean and organised, but it was also minimalistic, with very few personal touches. There were a few books on his nightstand, and she could tell the computer behind her was still warm, but judging by the state of the room, it looked like Edge had gone from activity to activity rather quickly, if the disturbances to certain items from their surroundings was any indication.

“I figured you were mad at me, so I thought I would just ask, now that I’ve got the chance too.” She said, still looking around.

“WHAT BACKWARDS THINKING LEAD YOU TO EVER BELIEVE I WAS MAD AT YOU?” he asked, folding his arms.

Y/n looked back at him, listing her reasons, “Well, you refused to talk to me this morning, you’ve been in your room all day, then there was the thing with Red just then-“

“YOU’RE AWFULLY SELF-CENTRED IF YOU THINK YOU ARE MY SOLE REASON FOR STAYING AWAY TODAY.”

Understanding hit her, “Ah, so it’s not me, it’s Black. Right?”

Seeing his grip on his arm tighten confirmed that she was right.

“What happened between you two?” She asked, quietly.

Edge shrugged, looking away, “VIOLENT ACTIONS AND DISRESPECTFUL WORDS. WHAT ELSE WERE YOU EXPECTING?”

“I guess I was expecting a reason on why? What exactly happened?”

He’s scowl deepened, “WE…HAVE CONFLICTING PERSONALITIES. THAT’S PERFECTLY NORMAL! MONSTERS COME IN MANY DIFFERENT FORMS, AND SOMETIMES, PEOPLE ARE JUST TOO DIFFERENT!”

“Really? Because I would have said-“

Edge slammed his hand on the table, startling her before he yelled, “DO NOT COMPARE ME TO HIM!!”

She held up her hands, back away, “But there are similarities between you two! So many of your mannerisms are the same!”

He stood up, glaring at her for a moment, before walking over to his bed, his back to her.

There was a moment of tense silence.

“But there’s one area he’s really different from you.” Y/n admitted, toying with her hands.

“….WHICH IS?” Edge asked with a growl, his back still facing her.

“….You’re really observant and empathetic, Edge.”

He turned around to see her rubbing her arm, looking to the floor.

“WHAT ARE YOU BASING THAT ON?” he asked, disbelief in his tone.

She took a moment to phrase her thoughts just right, “Do-do you remember the first few days after we met? I  think it was second night you were here when you managed to capture me. I was so sure you were about to kill me for what I did to you, but you didn’t. Why?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, “YOU KNOW WHY. I TOLD YOU.”

Y/n nodded, “You called me a worthy opponent.”

“I RESPECTED YOUR TENACITY.” Edge corrected, “TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO LIVE, AS YOU DECIDE.”

“You also noticed all my injuries, despite my efforts to hide them. Back then, the last thing I wanted was for you to see that I was injured.”

“NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED.” He replied, raising from his bed and walking over to her. With a delicate finger, he traced one of the bruises on her arm, his frown deepening.

“I’m surprised you haven't said anything about these bruises yet.” She admitted, watching his finger travel lightly across her skin.

“I HEARD THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION OUTSIDE, BEFORE MY BROTHER TOOK YOU AWAY.” He took his hand away, and asked, “WHERE DID HE TAKE YOU, ANYWAY?”

She shrugged, “Some park. I had to explain to him that everything is okay.” She met his eyes, “That Black didn’t mean to hurt me and that it’ll never happen again.”

“I COULD HAVE GUESSED AT WHO CAUSED YOUR INJURIES.” Edge’s fits tightened at his side, before relaxing, “BUT IT WOULD BE…HYPERCRITICAL FOR ME TO BE ANGRY. NOT WHEN I’VE DONE SO MUCH WORSE.”

“But that’s my point Edge.” She held out her hand to him, waiting.

Eventually, with both surprise and reluctance, Edge placed his finger in her hand, watching her intensely.

Bringing her over hand over, she patted his finger as she said, “I know you, and Black, have your…rough edges,” She looked up and grinned up as she watched him roll his eyes, before looking back to his finger, “I can tell by the scares on your face that you’ve both had a rough life, but somehow you, Edge,… you’ve managed to remain empathetic…and I really like that about you. It would be so easy to be angry at Black for doing this to me, like everyone else, but you’re empathising with him instead. I bet you can see that he didn’t mean it and I bet you know just how much he’s regretting it. He told me he wanted things to be different this time around, and I’m…I’m inclined to believe him.”

Edge scoffed, but kept his hand where it was, “YOU’RE ASSUMING TOO MUCH.”

She grinned, “Then come down and find out for sure. Black and I talked, much like you and I have, but there’s only one way you’re going to know for sure that he didn’t mean to hurt me and that he wants to change. That things will be different now.”

He said nothing for a long time, his eyes looking at his finger between her hands without seeing it, before he pulled his hand free, offering her his open palm to stand on instead. Smiling, she made her way onto his palm, holding his thumb for support as she was lifted to his shoulder.

“NOTHING’S DIFFERENT Y/N.” He said, as she made her way to his shoulder, “WE’RE STILL….TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE. UNLESS YOU’VE SOMEHOW MANGED TO TEACH HIM HOW TO SHOW THE RESPECT THAT’S DUE TO GREAT MONSTERS, LIKE MYSELF, I FAIL TO SEE HOW THINGS WON’T DEVOLVE BACK TO HOW THEY WERE AT THE OLD PLACE.”

“You’re talking about the place you were all living in before coming here, right?” When Edge nodded, she continued, “While I can guess what happened, I can only say that I think things will be different here. Trust me.”

Edge headed out of his room and towards downstairs, scoffing, “ NOT SO DIFFERENT THAT BLACK AND I COULD EVER BE FRIENDS!”

“Who would you consider a friend?” She asked, genuinely curious.

Edge stopped on the stairs landing, lost for words.

She laughed, “Easy Edge, I was never expecting you, or Black for that matter, to be friends like Papyrus and Blueberry are…..Actually, I guess I can picture that, but with a touch more aggression.”

“A TOUCH MORE??” He exclaimed.

She grinned, “I can see you two more as friendly rivals.” She nudged the side of his skull, “Isn’t that right, my worthy opponent?”

He scoffed with a chuckle, moving into the kitchen, “YOU’RE A PEST, YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?”

“I may have been called that once or twice, yes.” She chuckled.

When they rounded the corner into the kitchen, they saw Black waiting for them at the small kitchen table, on his phone.

“THERE SHE IS! COME HOME AT ONCE!” He snapped at someone on his phone.

As Black was angrily putting his phone back into his clothes, Mutt appeared from thin air behind him, both hands in his pockets.

“Did everyone go looking for me?” Y/n asked, worried because she could just picture Papyrus and Blueberry calling her name around a startled town.

Black’s eyes locked onto Edge even as he spoke, “THE OTHER IDIOTS ARE STILL OUTSIDE, FINISHING UP. THEY DIDN’T SEEM THAT CONCERNED THAT IT WAS THE PERVE THAT KIDNAPPED YOU!” His eyes quickly flashed to her, “IT SEEMS THAT FEAR IS ONLY RESERVED FOR ME!”

“To be fair Black, up until recently, you and I haven’t exactly been on friendly terms.”

Black ignored her in favour of staring back at Edge.

“GIVE HER TO ME, EDGE LORD.”

Edge’s shoulder’s stiffened underneath her.

“NO.” he said flatly.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Black hissed, Mutt watching carefully behind him.

“Don’t do this-” Y/n called out, only for Edge to speak over her.

“I WILL NOT GIVE UP THE AGREED UPON TIME Y/N HAS SET ASIDE FOR ME, JUST BECAUSE YOU DEMAND IT, BRAT.”

“SHE AGREED TO BE WITH ME FOR THE WHOLE DAY!” Black shrieked, his fits curling at his side, “LET HER TELL YOU HERSELF!”

Before she could say anything, Edge replied, flatly, “I DON’T CARE WHAT SHE AGREED TO WITH YOU BECAUSE I PLAN TO KEEP OUR COOKING LESSON.” Edge strode into the kitchen, ignoring the two brothers as he gathered cooking supplies, “YOU MAY HAVE HER BACK AFTER OUR COOKING LESSON IS FINISHED, IF, THAT IS WHAT SHE WANTS.”

Black took a step back, before scowling, “AS IF YOU’D ACTUALLY ALLOW HER TO COME BACK TO ME! ADMIT IT, YOU’VE BEEN DYING TO GET HER AWAY FROM ME AND KEEP HER TO YOURSELF SINCE YOU FOUND OUT SHE SLEPT WITH ME LAST NIGHT!”

“DON’T YOU DARE EQUIVOCATE WHAT YOU WOULD DO TO WHAT I WOULD DO!” Edge snapped, slamming shut a cardboard door, before whirling to face a smug Black, “SHE IS NOT A ‘PET’ YOU GET TO CONTROL, LIKE YOUR DOG OF A BROTHER!”

Black wasn’t impressed, “THEN WHAT WAS THIS MORNING ABOUT? DON’T THINK EVERYONE DIDN’T NOTICE THE LOOKS YOU THREW US, OR THE DISTANCE YOU KEPT!”

“I DON’T LIKE YOU BLACK.” Edge said, coming to stand before Black, glaring down at him, “IN FACT, I RATHER DESPISE AND DETEST YOU.”

“WHAT A SURPRISE, SOMETHING WE HAVE IN COMMON!” Black exclaimed in mock shock.

Edge ignored him, “BUT IF Y/N SAYS YOU WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT NOW, SO I’M…WILLING TO GIVE YOU THAT CHANCE.” He took a step back, “PROVE THAT YOU WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME, AND I’LL SEE IF I CAN’T …TOLERATE YOUR EXISTENCE.”

Black glared up at him, the two matching each other's scowl and absolute look of hatred.

“…DON’T EVER CALL ME ‘BRAT’ AGAIN.” Black hissed.

“DON’T CALL ME EDGE LORD.” Edge smirked, “EITHER EDGE, OR LORD, WILL DO.”

Black rolled his eyes, before continuing, “YOU WILL ALSO LEAVE MY BROTHER OUT OF YOUR INSULTS!”

“SAME GOES FOR YOU, BLACK.”

Edge held out his hand, and after looking at it for a moment, Black shook it, each trying to crush the other’s hand in their grasp before letting go.

“WHAT DO WE DO IF ONE OF US HAS A PROBLEM WITH THE OTHER?” asked Black, “I KNOW JUST HOW STUBBORNLY YOU REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANYTHING I EVER TELL YOU, AND IT WOULD BE A WASTE OF MAGIC TO KILL YOU DURING YET ANOTHER YELLING SHOUTING MATCH.”

Edge scoffed, “LIKE YOU COULD EVEN LAND A HIT ON ME!” he thought about it, before answering, “THREE-STRIKE, NO DUST ONLY RULE DUEL? THE OTHER, WEAKER SKELETON HAS TO ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE AND OUTCOME?”

Black’s grin sharpened, “DEAL!”

“Not without a referee, you don’t!” Y/n cried out, being quickly brought ack into the moment as she recalled Blueberry duelling with Edge. The idea of Edge and Black duelling, of what that fight would look like, was horrifying to imagine!

The point was to prevent these two from attacking each other!

Both looked quickly over at her, before meeting each other’s eyes and nodding.

“I’M COOKING LUNCH WITH Y/N NOW, AND YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE US ALONE.” Edge said, placing his hands firmly on his hips, staring Black down.

“…FINE.” Black pointed up at him, “BUT AFTER LUNCH, YOU AND YOUR BROTHER WILL CEASE ALL ATTEMPTS TO STEAL HER FROM ME!”

“AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT KEEPING HER FROM ME, AND YOU ACTUALLY PARTICIPATE IN TODAY’S LUNCH.”

“LIKE HOW YOU PARTICIPATED IN THIS MORNING’S BREAKFAST?” Black asked, snidely.

“Black.” Y/n warned.

He looked quickly at her, before grimacing, looking hurriedly off to the side, “I-I’LL BE THERE.” He looked at Edge firmly, “FROM NOW AND EVERY MEAL.”

Edge nodded, “SAME…THAT ALSO GOES FOR THE REST OF THE ACTIVITIES THE HOUSEHOLD IS DOING, IF I SO CHOOSE.”

Walking out of the room, Black asked over his shoulder, grinning, “DOES THAT INCLUDE WORKING UNDER ME TO BUILD MY HOUSE?”

Edge narrowed his eyes at him, “DON’T PRESS YOUR LUCK, BR-BLACK.”

Black left, laughing, with Mutt following him out.

Y/n let loose the breath she hadn’t released she had been holding in, before standing up and hugging the side of Edge’s skull.

A light red blush worked its way across his cheeks, “WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING??”

“Thanking you.” She pushed herself away, smiling into his eye as he turned to face her, “Seriously Edge, you have no idea how impressed, relieved and just thankful I am right now.”

He looked quickly away, “SH-SHUT UP! LET-LET’S JUST GET THIS OVER AND DONE WITH ALREADY!”

~*~

Lunch that day went a lot smoother than it had in a long time, perhaps even smoother than it had during breakfast.

Mutt was still not saying much, but now he was looking around the table, grinning or at least watching the person speaking, so Y/n was inclined to count that as progress.  Low and behold, it turned out that he did drink condiments, actually supping from a bottle of barbeque sauce, much to her fascination and Black’s outrage. Black and Edge had long since claimed the opposite ends of both ends of the table, which seemed to work out well for everyone, as the pair kept throwing snide comments and smug grins towards each other, but never escalating it beyond dirty looks. Still somewhat tense, Y/n instead listened to Papyrus and Blueberry explaining the progress on the house and to ask her where she had gone.

“Just to some park.” She shrugged, “It looked nice enough.”

“DID YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO IT?” Papyrus asked.

“OH!” Blueberry quickly exclaimed, “WE COULD GO THERE FOR A PICNIC!”

“Is that the thing you guys have agreed to?” she asked, cheekily.

Stretch chuckled, “oh, we’ve got something way more interesting in mind than that.”

She nodded over to Black, “As long as Black and Mutt are included in that decision, I’m still happy to do ….whatever it is.”

Black look at her in surprise, before looking over at Stretch, who nodded, “easy enough.” He pulled out his phone, “you’re numbers are still the same, you two?”

Black nodded while Mutt merely looked on.

Sending something along, Stretch put his phone away as something rang out in Black’s pocket. Dropping his fork quickly, Black pulled out his phone, reading over the message.

“….OH STARS! I PICK NUMBER FOUR! I DEMAND NUMBER FOUR BE WHAT WE DO!” Black cried out, delighted.

“Oh hell, what is it!?”

Y/n quickly got up from her table, running over to Black and trying to climb up his arm for a look. Black easily trapped her under one hand, pressing her flat to the table as he continued to look over the ideas, “ALTHOUGH, NUMBER SIX HAS POTENTIAL!” He looked eagerly up, “HOW ABOUT COMBINING SOME OF THESE?”

As Y/n squirmed under his hand, trying to wiggle free as she complained about the injustice of it all, Papyrus beamed, “WE WERE THINKING THAT OURSELVES! IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE IDEAS, JUST SEND US ALL A MESSAGE!”

“we’re trying to keep babydoll in the dark.” Red grinned, watching her struggle.

She flipped him off, much to Red and Mutt’s amusement, before finally getting free.

Brushing herself off, she stood up and glared playfully at the grinning skeletons around her, “Can I at least get a hint??”

“sure.” Grinned Sans, “we’re taking you somewhere out of this house.”

“I could have told you that!”

Everyone had a laugh at her expense, but for Y/n, it was just nice to see everyone laughing. Playing the part of the grumpy bitty, she playfully stormed back over to her chair and table, sitting down with a huff.

“Can I at least know when it’s going to happen?”

“not till after black and mutt’s house is built.” Answered Sans, smugly.

“AND WE STILL HAVE TO GO FURNITURE SHOPPING.” Black said, looking at her with a questioning glance.

She nodded, “Who’s coming along on that trip?”

“I AM!” Blueberry eagerly cried out, waving his arm around.

“I WOULD LOVE TO JOIN!” added Papyrus, beaming at Black.

“LIKE HELL-!” Black stopped himself and took a moment to collect himself, “…I’LL-I’LL CONSIDER IT.” He pointed a finger around at all the skeletons, with extra focus on Blueberry, “BUT I MAKE NO PROMISES!”

Blueberry grinned, “OF COURSE NOT, BLACK!”

Black narrowed his eyes at the innocent Blueberry.

Snickering, Y/n finished off her drink, now aware that Mutt was now watching her with a thoughtful look.

~*~

Black and Mutt both participated in cleaning up after lunch. Or rather, Black and Blueberry tried to out dry each other, while Papyrus and Edge scrubbed up and all their brother managed to dry just one plate in the same time frame that happened. Before long, everyone was back outside, looking at the house that now hid the fact that inside its walls were open and filled with pipes.

Sitting on Black’s shoulder, Y/n listened in as he split everyone into two teams; one team would put insulation into the walls, while the other would instal the ventilation system and later, the electrical wiring system.

As Stretch, Red, Edge and Blueberry grabbed the thick insulation sheets and began to cut it into pieces, fitting them into the wall, Black worked with his brother, wielding in ventilation on the bottom floor while Sans and Papyrus worked on the top level.

“Strange that you’re including this at all Black.” Y/n admitted, looking away as Black wielded the ventilation system together.

“WHAT’S STRANGE ABOUT WANTING TO KEEP A HOUSE COOL AND WARM?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, looking up to watch Mutt looking at her as he held the piece in place, “Do skeletons even feel cold and hot?”

Mutt smirked, “not as strongly as humans do.”

“Then why not just install an air conditioner?”

Mutt smirk fell, “…m’lord has his…reasons.”

“OF COURSE I DO!” Black snapped, sitting up quickly and nearly knocking her off his shoulder in the process, “NONE OF WHICH I NEED TO SHARE! THIS IS MY HOUSE, AND I’M ALLOWED TO BUILD IT HOWEVER I WANT, WITHOUT BEING CRITICISED!”

Clinging to his shoulder, Y/n pulled herself back up with a wince of pain, “I never said that you couldn’t and I didn’t mean to criticise. I was just making conversation, Black.”

“YEAH? WELL, I DON’T MUCH CARE FOR THIS CONVERSATION, SO PICK A DIFFERENT ONE!”

Slumping on his shoulder, she thought about it, “…So, who do you think is the cutest skeleton here?”

Black’s wielding went wildly off mark, creating a permanent black burn line that trailed off the weld he had been working on.

“WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM??” He cried out, looking at her absolutely dumbfounded.

She grinned, “Well, you said to stop talking about the vent, so I thought-“

“YOU THOUGHT TO ASK WHO IS THE CUTEST SKELETON WOULD MAKE FOR A GOOD CHANGE??”

“Going to tell me that I can’t?” she asked, with a grin.

“YES!!”

Snickering, Y/n watched as Black went back to welding, his shoulders obviously more tense than before.

After a while, he said as he welded, “IT’S OBVIOUSLY ME.”

“Obviously you, what?”

He stopped, looking at her with a smirk, “I AM THE HOTTEST SKELETON HERE AND ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANT AND ACROSS THE INFINITE TIMELINES AND ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSES!”

She grinned, “That’s a mighty claim, but I said ‘cutest’.”

Black scoffed, “WHO WOULD EVEN WANT SUCH A DISGRACEFUL TITLE??”

“I DO!” Papyrus proudly proclaimed, his voice coming from above them, “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS THE CUTEST OF ALL THE SKELETONS AND WILL PROUDLY WEAR THAT TITLE!”

“hate to disagree with you there paps,” Stretch said, sliding in next to Black, stopping his task of hammering in the installation to keep it in place, “but i do believe that i'm known as the cute one.”

“the only thing ‘cute’ about you is the angle you’re hammering in these insulation sheets.” Red replied, somewhere above.

Stretch gasped, “be still, my beating heart!”

He easily stepped aside and dodge a nail that was tossed at him from above.

“WILL YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP AND KEEP WORKING?!?” Edge yelled from above them.

“why edge?” Sans asked with a grin in his voice, “wanna _hammer_ in just how cute you are?”

“NYAH! HOW I LOATHE YOU!”

“love you too edgey.”

“ESPECIALLY YOU, ASHTRAY!”

Blueberry piped up, “EDGE MAY LIKE BEING CALLED ‘CUTE’,-“

“IF I HAVE TO CLIMB DOWN THERE, I WILL BE NAILING YOU BOTH TO THE TREES!” Edge screamed.

“kinky.” Grinned Stretch, narrowly dodging a hammer throwing as at him with a lot of force.

Blueberry continued, “-BUT I CLAIM THE TITLE AS THE MOST HANDSOME SKELETON!”

“WHAT MASS EXTINCTION EVENT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR THAT TO HAPPEN??” Black cried out, standing up in outraged.

Blueberry posed with his hammer, “NO EVENT; ONLY THE MR SKELETON COMPETITION WE SHOULD THROW TO PROVE JUST WHO IS THE ABSOLUTE HANDSOME SKELETON!” He flexed, waggling his eyebrows at Y/n, “Y/N COULD BE THE JUDGE!”

“How can I judge?” She asked, standing up with a grin, before posing sexy herself, “When I plan to enter?”

“YOU-YOU CAN’T ENTER!” Black cried out as Blueberry blushed.

“Yes I can!” She traced her hands along her body, before winking, “Afterall, I’ve got the cutest and most handsome little skeleton hidden under all this skin and clothes, right guys?”

She couldn’t help but laugh when she saw few other the guys looking away, blushing, with absolute silence from everyone else.

“that’s fucking cheating.” Red mumbled to himself, hidden from sight somewhere above.

Nudging the side of Black’s head, Y/n sat back down with a sigh and a goofy smile, “Are you glad that I changed the subject?”

Black ignored her, going back to his work and steadfastly not looking at her.

Once he started welding and Y/n turned her head away, Black finally spoke up, “CAREFUL PET; I DISTINCTIVELY REMEMBER THIS MORNING.” He stopped to look at her, “I THOUGHT WE AGREED NO ‘SEXUAL HARASSMENT’?”

“How does an innocent question count as sexual harassment?” she asked, grinning.

Mutt spoke up, “m’lord, if i didn’t know any better, i say she asked the question in the hopes of having you take your shirt off again.” As Y/n turned to gape at him, he smugly smiled back, “i think you have a little fan.”

And just like that, Black was laughing and Y/n was curled up on his shoulder, blushing furiously that her short victory was taken so quickly away from her.

~*~

By the time they were done for the day, the house was looking more like a house.

A house with no doors, windows, walls, furniture and proper floorings, but a house none the less.

“I SAY ANOTHER DAY OF BUILDING, AND WE’LL BE READY TO GET PAINTING AND BUYING FURNITURE!” Black said happily, standing back to admire the house.

“GOOD!” cried Edge, heading towards the house, “I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN LABOURING ALL DAY, FOR THE WHOLE WEEK!”

Sans, Stretch and Red looked like they couldn’t agree more, obviously far more exhausted than everyone else.

“How about a movie tonight?” Y/n asked, before remembering what prevented them last night, “If that’s okay with you Black?”

He looked like he was considering it.

“…ONLY-ONLY IF I GET TO PICK THE MOVIE!” He called out, smirking.

“Um…sure, okay?” Y/n replied, looking around at everyone else as they walked back to the house.

“AND YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE WHAT IT IS!” HE added quickly, “AND YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH!”

“……You-you remember our little talk about ‘sexual harassment’?”

Red turned around quickly, “just what kind of movie have you got on your mind, babydoll?”

Blushing, Y/n looked quickly away as Black rolled his eyes as he continued, “I WOULD NEVER WATCH ONE OF THOSE MOVIES, YOU-“ He looked quickly to see Edge glaring at him, “-SKELETON WHO MAY OR MAY WATCH THOSE TYPES OF MOVIES.”

Red grinned, giving her and Black a sultry look, “oh, i most certainly do!”

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION, BROTHER!” Edge yelled, picking him up and scowling.

Red shrank into his jacket, “so-sorry boss.”

As Edge placed him back onto the ground, Blueberry came bounding over to her, “SO Y/N, THAT MEANS YOU GET TO COOK WITH ME TONIGHT, RIGHT?”

“Sure does, right Black?” she asked, looking over at him.

Black stopped walking, watching for a moment as Blueberry quickly walked back, standing in front of him.  Blueberry offered his hand, holding it open and expecting Y/n to hope on.

When Black didn’t offer to carry her across and, instead, folded his arms, Blueberry asked him, “DID YOU WANT TO COOK TONIGHT, BLACK?”

“…YES I DO.” Black unfolded his arms and held one out for Y/n to jump onto, before carrying her across to Blueberry’s shoulder, saying, “BUT IT’S NOT MY TURN, RIGHT BLUE?”

Blueberry held a protective hand in front of her, covering her from sight as he turned slightly away, “IT-IT COULD BE, IF YOU WANTED IT TO BE.”

Black folded his arms again, cocking an eyebrow, “REALLY?”

“….NO.” Blueberry said, quietly.

Smirking, Black walked around him, leading the way back to the house, “YOU’RE JUST LUCKY THAT I HAVE A MOVIE TO PICK OUT.” He called back over his shoulder, grinning, “BE SURE TO TEACH HIM EVERYTHING I SHOWED YOU, PET.”

“WELL,” Papyrus said, beaming as everyone just stared, shock, “I SAY THAT’S CERTAINLY PROGRESS!”

~*~

After dinner, a freshly showered Y/n sat back on a smug Black’s shoulder in her pyjamas as he sat in one of the armchairs, waiting for the movie to start. A combination of good food, long day with plenty of physical work, and a dark room with comfy chairs, and everyone was practically snoozing already. It was a good thing that progresses on the house was relatively fast; Y/n doubted they could have kept going for the whole month.

 _‘I think they could do with a nice, easy, relaxing day after all this is done.’_ She thought, making a mental note to brainstorm a few ideas.

“Do I get to know what type of movie it is now?” she asked, watching Black struggle with the remote controls to the right channel to appear.

“PATIENCE PET!” Black snapped, growing frustrated, “I’VE ALMOST GOT IT!”

“m’lord?” Mutt said, sitting on the ground, his backrest next to Black’s legs as he held open a hand.

Angrily, Black slammed the remote into his hand, sitting back with a huff.

“POPCORN?” Papyrus offered, holding out bowl towards him.

Black snatched it from him, shovelling at few pieces into his mouth, watching as Y/n scaled down to sit on his knee, grabbing a piece for herself.

As Y/n sat there, nibbling a piece of popcorn that was far too big for her mouth, Mutt managed to get the movie playing, tossing the remote onto the coffee table.

Immediately, she knew it was a horror movie, and judging by all the blood and gore, it had something to do with zombies.

“out.” Sans said, picking himself up from the couch.

“OUT??” Black said as Mutt paused the movie, watching him go with a smirk, “ARE YOU SCARED OR SOMETHING, VANILLA?”

Sans shrugged, “horror’s just not my thing.”

“More of a rom-com kind of guy?” Y/ n asked, grinning.

Sans grinned back, “lifetime movies, actually.” He moved to leave, yawning as he rubbed his eyes, “i’ve got work to do anyway, so i’ll leave you guys to ‘enjoy’ your movie.”

“OH BROTHER!” Papyrus cried out, quickly standing up and looking sheepish, “I’LL-I’LL HELP YOU!”

Sans’s grin widened, “not going to stay and enjoy the movie, paps?”

Papyrus toyed with his gloves, “I, UM, I JUST FIGURED I WOULDN’T WASTE MY TIME WITH A MOVIE….NOT WHEN I COULD BE HELPING YOU!”

Sans chuckled, indicating his head out of the living room then, “come on then.”

Edge stood up as well, “UNLIKE THE SCARED CREAMPUFF IN DENIAL-“

“I-I’M NOT IN DENIAL! I JUST WANT TO HELP MY BROTHER!”

“-I CHOOSE TO NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH MINDLESS GORE AND CRINGE INDUCTING EFFECTS.”

“HOW VERY…CREAMPUFF OF YOU EDGE.” Black smirked.

Edge narrowed his eyes at him, “I HAVE SEEN MORE THAN ENOUGH VIOLENCE TO BE COMPLETELY BORED BY IT. WHY THE HELL DID YOU PICK THIS TYPE OF MOVIE.”

Black grinned, “OH, I HAVE MY REASONS.”

Rolling his eyes, Edge moved to leave the room, pushing past Sans and Papyrus, who both shrugged, before following him out.

“ANY OTHER COWARDS WISHING TO DUCK OUT WITH WEAK EXCUSES?” Black asked, his eyes focusing on Blueberry.

Blueberry looked between him and Y/n, before shaking his head, looking resolved.

Smirking, Black looked down at her, “WHAT ABOUT YOU PET? WANT TO BEG ME TO PICK A DIFFERENT MOVIE?”

Horror movies were not her favourite, but the idea of admitting that to Black…

“Just press play already.” She snapped, climbing to his knee again and steeling herself for what was to come.

~*~

What became really obvious was Black’s plan to scare the living shit out of her. He watched her more than the movie, snickering every time she stiffened and gasped, sitting back with ease while she curled more into a bitty ball, having long scouted back along his leg and pressing herself to his body.

The worst part was how he wasn’t the only one out to get her.

“how are you doing there, babydoll?” Red asked smugly, leaning in to whisper that to her.

Y/n looked over at him through her fingers, glaring at him, “I’m fine!”

He snickered, shovelling another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth.

Stretch, seeing her tense, had orange magic flair in his eye as one of the blankets in the far corner was lifted up and dropped onto her, across Black’s lap. Looking at his confused, he grinned, “figured you could do with a comfort blanket.”

She wrapped herself tightly in it, feeling better and yet, somehow worse, “Th-thanks.”

Stretch winked over at her, before looking at the pile of blankets and pillows where his brother was still sitting in.

Blueberry was doing way worse than her. His eyes were glued to the screen and he had cocooned himself in all the blankets he could, clinging to the pillow underneath his chin.

“bro-“ Stretch started, for the fourth time.

“I’M FINE!” Blueberry quickly said in a tight voice, not turning around.

Stretch sighed, before going back to the movie.

The crowning point was when there was a jump scare building up as the teenage girl was searching a graveyard with the world’s worst torch, the graveyard silent as the movie let the tension build and build. Y/n could tell the jumpscare was coming; could see it a mile away!

What she didn’t take into consideration was what an absolute asshole Black was.

The moment a hand shot out of the ground, grabbing the screaming girl’s ankle as a rotting flesh zombie moaned, “Brains!”, Black grabbed her suddenly, squeezing her slightly before letting her go in a gale of laughter at the shriek she and Blueberry involuntarily let out.

“Black! You utter bastard!” Y/n yelled, glaring at him with a hand covering her pounding heart.

While Black and Red laughed their bony coccyxs off, Mutt chuckled as Stretch grinned, who was quickly looked over at his brother in concern, who had disappeared under his blanket cocoon.

Thoroughly embarrassed and seeking vengeance, Y/n stood up and made her way up over the back of Black’s armrest, ignoring him close to tears as he continued to laugh, dropping down to the floor. There, she took a moment to collect her thoughts and calm her racing heart, listening to the movie as the horror and gore continued without her. When she had settled, she didn’t immediately return.

Instead, she took off her backpack, digging around for ideas. Seeing her old red lips stick, she grinned as an idea came to her. Peering around Black’s armchair, she watched the movie and waited for another scary scene.

When the zombie slowly trudging around the dark, silent house found the frightened human in the hallway, Y/n screamed as loud as she could, along with the actor.

Black and Red laughed anew, with even Stretch and Mutt chuckling. The ball under the blankets that was Blueberry, only curled in more on itself.

“Y/N!” Blueberry’s voice cried out, clearly distressed, “ARE YOU OKAY??”

Y/n wished she could have said something, but her plan required she remain silent. Swearing to make it up to him somehow, she listened in as Black struggled to say through his laughter, “WH-WHO KNEW THAT BITTIES HAD SUCH YELLOW BELLIES!”

 _‘Oh, we’ll see who has the yellow belly!’_ she vowed, applying the red lipstick to her face and clothes, messing up her hair for good measure.

Leaving her bag by the armchair leg, Y/n crawled under it, waiting for enough time to pass to put her plan into action. Strangely enough, with something to distract her, Y/n found the movie a lot more tolerable.

After a time, Stretch asked, “y/n? you still here?”

She didn’t respond.

“must have gone ter bed.” Red said.

“THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Black complained, “I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER TELLING HER SHE HAD TO WATCH THE ENTIRE MOVIE WITH ME! PLUS, SHE NEEDS TO SPEND THIS NIGHT, AND EVERY NIGHT TILL MY HOUSE IS BUILT, ALSO HERE WITH ME!”

“you wouldn’t really wake up if it turned out she had gone to bed, would you black?” Stretch asked him.

“I-!”

“SHH!” Blueberry called out, “SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO WATCH THE MOVIE!”

Red chuckled again, and the whole room fell back into silence, watching the movie.

Y/n continued to bind her time and when it felt like enough time had passed and everyone was back into the move, she made her move.

Using the groves on the back of Black’s armrest, she climbed up, stopping just behind Black’s head. Blowing a gentle breath at the back of his neck, Y/n ducked down at one of Black’s hand rubbed the spot her breath had hit him. Grinning, she made her way along the armrest’s material, sort of like how rock climbers would scale a wall, pressing herself to the overlip on the armrest. There, she made groaning, growling noises, similar to the noises the zombies in the movie were making. Quickly, she dropped to the floor, hiding under the chair just as Black was peering over the edge. When she felt the chair move around her, indicating that Black had gone back to sitting as he had before, Y/n made her last trip up the back of the armrest, looking for a good place to strike. Seeing Black’s shirt open enough at the neck, Y/n made her way over to as softly as she could.

Spying his collarbone, she quickly latched on with both hands, moaning like a zombie the words, “Mmm, marrow!” as she brought her face in for a bite.

Black screamed, throwing himself forward and off the armchair, tripping over a startled Mutt and into the Blueberry pile, who shrieked as loudly as Black was screaming. In admits the flailing limbs as both Black and Blueberry struggled to free themselves and run to safety, Stretch and Red had both been so thoroughly scared that they had pressed themselves back against the couch, both of their eyes enflamed in magic.

Edge quickly came thundering downstairs in his black silken pyjamas, yelling to the room at large, “OKAY! NO MORE MOVIE NIGHTS! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP, YOU IDIOTS!!”

~*~

Suffice to say, the movie ended shortly after that. Both Stretch and Red had tried to play off their fear as ‘merely being started’, but neither of them had been able to say that while looking at Y/n’s smug face. Black had vowed vengeance upon her for this betrayal, before marching off to the bathroom, Mutt had gone outside for a smoke while Blueberry sunk back into his blanket pile on the floor.

Only when Y/n had gone over to him, crawling in with him and whispering to him that she hadn’t enjoyed that movie at all, before asking if next time she could hang out with him, did he lighten up. They both had a giggle over everyone’s fear, and judging by Blueberry’s words, he had every intention on getting Black back when Fright Night (a monster holiday equivalent of Halloween, from what she could tell) came around.

A goodnight hug to him, and a wave goodbye to everyone else, and Y/n sat on the coffee table after cleaning the lipstick with a tissue and watched as Blueberry, Stretch and Red headed for bed.

Listening in to the sounds of the house settling down, she watched as Mutt turned around on the balcony, peering inside. Soon he came walking back in, still smoking his dog treat.

“You should finish that outside.” Y/n said, expecting to be ignored.

So it was rather surprising when he stopped and asked her, “Where are your cups?”

“As in drinking cups?” Seeing him nod, she pointed to the kitchen, “Next to the fridge, top cardboard and shelf. Want me to come along and point them out?”

“nah, i’ve got it.” He said, already moving into the kitchen. 

Still somewhat surprised, Y/n was making herself comfortable on her pillow when Mutt came back in, drinking water from a big glass cup, his lit dog treat in the same hand.

“Hey Mutt, can we talk for a second?” Y/n asked, gesturing to the empty armchair nearest to her.

He seemed to consider it, before shrugging, dumping himself into it. He downed the rest of the water, before taking a huge puff on his strange cigarette, blowing the purple smoke into the air, above his head.

“Come on Mutt,” she complained as she made her way towards him, smelling the purple smoke that lingered in the air in odd swirls, “Not in the house.”

“helps me relax, little bitty.” Mutt said, before taking another drag. He let the smoke curl between his fangs as he dropped his head back with a sigh, “helps with stress and pain.”

“You’re in pain?” she asked, genuinely concerned.

“you care?” he asked, cocking his head towards her.

“Yeah I do. That’s why I’m asking.”

Mutt continued to watch her for a moment, before pushing himself up, resting his forearms on his legs.

“guess we’ll see.”

With that, Mutt took a deep drag on his dog treat and blew it entirely upon her.

The think purple smoke stung her eyes, and she quickly closed them as the sound of something hitting the wooden table with an old ring to it rang out around her. Coughing, she moved to get clear of the smoke, waving it away from her face in irritation, only to move into something solid.

Peering through teary eyes and the smoke, she couldn’t immediately see what it was that was blocking her as she could see out beyond the invisible barrier, but the memory of what Mutt had been drinking from hit her with sudden understanding, and she turned and looked up to see him peering down at her through glass that wrapped his face.

“Let me out!” She coughed, pulling up her pyjama shirt to cover her mouth and nose.

Mutt put a hand to the side of his head, “what was that?”

“*Cough, cough*, I’m serious!!”

“…nope, didn’t catch any of that.”

Seeing that he had no intention to let her out, Y/n began ramming the side of the glass, growing even more enraged when she saw what looked like his hand coming down to keep the glass in place. The longer she fought and the more she breathed in, the more she grew relaxed, calmer, and detached to her reality she became, like she was view it all as a dream. Soon, she ceased her struggles to escape, finding the smoke soothing and pleasant to breath in.

She didn’t even notice it when Mutt lifted the cup away, choosing to just sit when she had sunk, not noticing much of anything, really.

“how are you feeling?” He asked, watching her carefully.

“…I’m feeling okay.” She grinned lazily up at him, beaming when he smiled at her. She knew she should be upset with him for what he just did, but in the end, it didn’t really matter, did it?

“how are your bruises?” He asked, looking down at her arms.

She followed his gaze, “Hey! I think they look better!” she touched them, “They don’t hurt anymore!”

“the smoke should help you heal, but i wouldn’t press on them like that.”

“Okay.”

That sounded like sound advice, so she did just that.

Seeing her stop pressing on her bruises, Mutt sat back, taking another puff on the dog treat smoke, blowing smoke from his nasal cavity with a long sigh.

“so y/n, you said you wanted to talk?” He asked, looking over at her, “well, i’ve got a few questions of my own.”

“Shoot.” She said, sitting back to get comfortable too.

Mutt was watching her and her reaction very closely now, “what do you make of my brother?”

“I like him.” She said lazily, enjoying this conversation.

“really?” Mutt asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t at first, but then, the more I got to know him, the more I saw, the more I liked him. Actually,” she admitted, speaking freely, “I’m looking forward to the shopping trip, despite knowing I’m going to be scared.”

“why would you be scared?” Mutt asked, genuinely curious.

She shrugged, “I always get scared when I leave the house. Ever since I became a bitty….well, I’m either scared or numb.”

“strange.” He said, sitting up and peering down the hall, listing to something in the distance, “do you pity my bro?”

“Kinda.” She sighed, speaking her mind openly, “I mean, I see so much of him in how I use to be, so while I do feel sorry for him and the hard life he’s had to live, I’m also hopeful because I changed, I’m…better now.” She gestured up to him “Do you understand what I mean?”

“not really.” He said, sitting back and looking back outside, losing interest.

Y/n pushed herself up, “you sure care about your brother, don’t you?”

He slowly turned his head to look at her, his expression calculating.

“…more than you can understand.”

“WHAT’S GOING ON HERE??”

Black was standing in the living room’s entranceway, changed into his long silk pyjamas.

“Hey Black.” She said, flopping back onto the table top, her arms open wide, ”We were just talking about you.”

“YOU WERE??” He quickly came into the room, but when he noticed her strange behaviour, he turned to his brother instead, “WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER?”

“I feel fine.” She said, ignored by the two brothers.

Mutt shrugged as he put out his dog treat, “she took a hit from this thing.”

“YOU DRUGGED HER??”

Mutt inclined his head, “yeah.”

Black looked between his brother to Y/n tracing patterns in the roof.

“YOU’RE NEVER TO DO THAT AGAIN!” Black spat quietly to his brother.

“of course not.” Mutt replied, unphased.

Black glared at him for a moment, before looking back at Y/n.

“WH-WHAT DID SHE SAY ABOUT ME?” He asked in a quiet voice.

“why don’t you ask her yourself?” Mutt asked, equally quiet.

Black hesitated, before coming to sit on the edge of the couch.

“Y-Y/N?” He asked, softly.

“Hmm?” she replied, touching her bruises again.

“WH-WHAT DO YOU….?” He sighed heavily, before asking, “HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”

“A bit annoyed, actually.” She admitted as the drug began to leave her system and her emotions slowly came back, “I don’t like it.”

“YOU AND MY BROTHER.” Black said, throwing his brother a narrowed glare.

Mutt picked himself up from the chair. “i’ll give you two some space.”

Then he was gone.

“Teleporting is so cool and yet so sicking.” Y/n said, rolling on to her stomach, “It’s convenient, but man, if it doesn’t just make me want to barf.”

Black picked her up by the scruff of her shirt, placing her on his palm.

“LET’S GET YOU TO BED.” He said, sighing.

“Don’t think you’d fit on my bed.” She grinned lazily, laying flat on his palm.

Black blushed, “QU-QUITE PET! YOU SHOULDN’T TALK WHEN YOU’RE STONED.”

“Is that why Mutt’s always so quiet?” she asked, her mood turning dark.

Black looked over to the chair his brother had just been in.

“…HE….HE HAS HIS REASONS.”

“And what were his reasons for drugging me against my will?” she asked, pushing herself up and feeling herself getting angrier and angrier.

Black scowled, turning away from the stairs to look at her, “I DON’T KNOW! WHY WOULD I KNOW THAT?! IT’S NOT LIKE I ASKED HIM TO DO IT!”

He began pacing about in the living room, so Y/n couldn’t get a word in as he said, “HE’S ALWAYS DOING STUFF LIKE THIS! THINGS THAT I NEVER ASKED HIM TO DO, BUT HE THINKS WOULD HELP ME IN SOME WAY, ACTING ON MY ‘BEHALF’ AND INTERESTS! I’M THE OLDER BROTHER, AND YET HE STILL FEELS HE NEEDS TO LOOK OUT FOR ME?! ME??! HE’S ALWAYS GOING BEHIND MY BACK, TAKING OUT OUR THREATS BY HIMSELF! HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER! I’M THE ONE THAT PROTECTS US, NOT HIM!!”

By the time he stopped, he had wrapped her back in his palm, breathing heavily as he glared at nothing in particular.

“He did this for your sake?” she asked, grasping his clenched fist that was wedged under her armpits.

Black’s eyes flickered to her before flicking away, before giving a brief nod.

She thought back on all the times she ever saw Mutt do something without being instructed. Now that she was thinking about it, everything but him taking time for his smokes seemed to come back and relate to Black and his well being in some way.

It was nice that he obviously cared about his brother, but…

“….That doesn’t excuse what he did.” She said angrily.

“OF COURSE NOT!” Black snapped, before looking quickly at her, “Y/N, I-I HAVE A FAVOUR TO ASK YOU.”

“You’re going to ask me for a favour after what I’ve just been through??” she asked, enraged.

“YES I AM!” He lifted her up to his eye level, “DON’T BE MAD AT MY BROTHER!”

“Why shouldn’t I be?!” she yelled, trying to escape, anger sobering her quicker.

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT YOU SHOULDN’T!” Black said, wrestling to keep her in his grasp, “YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY LIVID AND NEVER WANT TO TALK TO HIM EVER AGAIN, BUT I’M ASKING YOU NOT TO BE!”

That stopped her.

“Why would you ask me something like that?” she asked, settling in his grasp.

Black loosened his grip, “BECAUSE HE NEVER THINKS ABOUT HIMSELF. HE’S ALWAYS SELF-SACRIFICING HIMSELF IN SOME WAY THAT BENEFITS ME, DAMN WHATEVER THE COSTS TO HIM! I DON’T CARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE HIM FOR WHO HE IS, BUT I WILL NOT LET HIM MAKE AN ENEMY OUT OF YOU FOR MY BENEFIT!”

She stared up at him, confused. “Why would you care if me and your brother got along?”

“I HAVE MY REASONS.” He said quickly, not looking at her.

“Which are?” she insisted.

He turned to look at her, “MY OWN, PERSONAL REASONS.”

“Black, I need something more than that if I’m even going to consider not being mad about all of this.”

Black looked down at the coffee table, where the glass that had trapped her sat off to the side.

“HE-HE THINKS HE DOESN’T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM, BUT I KNOW BETTER! I REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS LIKE BEFORE THINGS STARTED DETERIORATING AT THE OLD HOUSE. THOSE DOG TREATS, HE NEVER USED TO SMOKE THEM THIS OFTEN. HE CAN PRETEND AS MUCH AS HE WANTS, BUT I KNOW BETTER! WHY ELSE IS HE SMOKING THEM THAT MUCH?! THAT’S WHY I’M ASKING, ON HIS BEHALF FOR ONCE!”

Y/n thought about what the effects of that purple smoke had been on her, imagine what it must be like to be on that stuff all the time.

“….He should stop smoking those things.” She said.

Black nodded, “OF COURSE, BUT THAT DOESN’T SOLVE THE ISSUE OF WHY HE STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.”

“And you want me to figure it out?”

“I WANT HIM TALKING TO ANOTHER PERSON. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE HE’S REALLY SPOKEN TO SINCE WE’VE GOT HERE.”

“….There are no guarantees that we’re even going to like each other.” She warned.

Black grinned, “I LIKE TO THINK THAT IF YOU CAN SOMEHOW BE FRIENDS WITH ME, EDGE AND RED, YOU CAN BE FRIENDS WITH ANYONE.”

 

Next chapter is called: The full shopping experience


	17. I͏n̶k̕ ̨̛͘Ş̶e͡͡ŗ͞v̵͢i̢̨̛c̕e̵- (Non-Cannon/ Halloween Fun)

_In dimension c-137 (pre-Croneberg), a Undertale Fanfic writer by the pen name Rnd_Injustice discovers an internet ‘spell’ that relates to their relatively new interests. Laughing it off as just ‘something stupid but fun’, this writer went out and brought the ingredients required to complete the binding, following the instructions as listed[here](https://rnd-injustice.tumblr.com/post/178640180283/happy-october) in the month of October._

_The following chapter is a direct result of a successful binding. All attempts to remove or alter this chapter have been unsuccessful._

_(Warning, this contains non-cannon: Angst, feels)_

An ink puddle appeared one day from out of nowhere.

No one noticed it at first or knew when it first appeared or indeed, why it was there to begin with.

The first thing Y/n heard about it was when Blueberry was calling out to the house at large, “DOES ANYONE RECOGNISE A SANS COVERED IN INKSTAINS WITH A VERY LARGE PAINTBRUSH?”

Y/n was standing on Sans’s shoulder as he, and everyone else, was working on building Black and Mutt’s house. Hearing Blue’s description, Sans was suddenly dropping everything he had as he ran over Blue, looking at where he was pointing.

There, standing in a pool of ink off in the distance was a short skeleton tapping away at his phone. True to Blueberry’s description, he was covered in ink stains, with a large paintbrush as his back. A long brown scarf was wrapped around his neck and a blue jumper tied around his waist.

Like he could sense he was being watched, the strange skeleton turned around to look over at the entire household gathered to look at him, waving and smiling broadly when he saw them.

“bad time!” Sans shouted as magic flared from his eye, “bad time guys!”

In the next instance, all the skeletons but Sans and Papyrus toppled over, just collapsing to the floor as Sans and Papyrus staggered, but remained standing. Papyrus’s worried eyes dimmed and the flame in Sans’s died out, leaving both brothers looking suddenly weaker.

All the skeletons, but Sans, Papyrus, and the new skeleton, that is.

The strange skeleton came walking towards them, still tapping away at his phone as he beamed, and completely unaffected by what Y/n could only guess was the magic repressor at work.

Seeing this, Sans’s eye light up in alarm.

“good time!”

Suddenly, all the skeletons were back on their feet and the strange skeleton was suddenly surrounded in a cage of those dog-skull creatures, each charging up with pure energy.

“They’re called Gaster Blasters. Blasters for short.” The strange skeleton called over the hum of energy getting charged up, apparently uncaring about what was happening around him, “It’s annoying that you haven’t asked what they’re called yet, Y/n.”

“hey pal,” Sans said, his grin tighten as he and everyone else moved towards the strange skeleton, “mind telling us what a good-looking fellow like you is doing around here and where you might have come from?”

The strange skeleton looked around at the blasters about him, before looking back at Sans, grinning smugly.

“Let me get this right; if I don’t, you’ll blast me?”

“only if you’re a dumb bastard about it.” growled Red.

Sans stepped forward as Y/n found herself pressing more into his neck, “we don’t want to do anything rash, but let’s just say, we’ve been preparing for something like you appearing for a while now. best you tell us your story right quick before we make too many assumptions about your intentions.”

“Not that your preparations did much to slow me down.” He grinned, before waving a dismissive hand at the blasters around him, “I’m not writing myself into this story and letting these things do any damage to me, so how about we calm down and I can explain why I’m here, hmm?”

The others skeletons looked to Sans, who was watching the strange skeleton, very closely.

“where’s you’re papyrus?” Sans asked at last, looking around.

The strange skeleton shrugged, “Don’t have one.”

When Sans didn’t respond, the strange skeleton spoke up, “Do you want me to prove that you can’t hurt me, or can we just skip that and get to why I’m here already?”

After a moment, Sans sighed, “back up guys.”

“sans-“ started Red.

“if he wanted to hurt us, he would have done so already.”

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE ISN’T BINDING HIS TIME!” Black snapped, summoning a bone spear as he spoke.

“to what? attack us now, after he’s lost the element of surprise?” Sans shook his head, “if the guy can shake off the magic repressor, there’s no telling what else he can do. i’d rather get a chance to talk peacefully before things escalate.”

The magic faded from his eyes as one of the blasters disappeared in a cloud of magic dust. Papyrus, Blueberry and Stretch did much the same, and three more blasters disappeared.

Leaving just four remaining.

“guys.” said Sans, his voice carrying a warning.

“YOU WOULD HAVE US EXPOSE OURSELVES WILLINGLY TO THIS THREAT?!” Edge shrieked.

The strange skeleton snickered, “My stars, you’re amazing Edge.”

Sans wasn’t amused, “yeah. it’s my call and i’m making it. back off guys.”

The four remaining skeletons looked to each other, each searching the other’s expressions. After a while, they each stood back and the magic in their eyes and the remaining blasters disappeared.

“There! Isn’t this much better?” The strange skeleton asked, looking around at the group facing him.

“so pal, what should we call you?” Sans asked, stepping forward.

The strange skeleton grinned, “Well, you’re going to have to explain to bitty Y/n over there about alternative universes and all of you guys a full two or three chapters early as I can tell they’re certainly cued in something’s not right here.” The strange skeleton placed a hand to his chest, “But I go by the name Ink. Haven’t used ‘Sans’ in an age.”

Y/n’s mind was ablaze with questions, but she held off, knowing that this potential threat had to be dealt with first.

So she asked instead, “Why are you here?”

“how did you get here?” added Sans, looking over to the ink pool behind Ink’s back.

Ink rubbed his hands, looking around, “Right, the exposition stuff! So, I’m here because you’re Creator brought me here, and I’ll be here until that pool dries up, which should be in about under twenty-four Reader hours and now I’m thinking we make that translate into twenty-four time for you guys too seeing as how you’re this Creator’s most popular story and I’m getting lots and lots of replies and idea from the Readers!”

There was stunned silence.

“YOU’RE INSANE.” Edge said, flatly.

Sans was rubbing his skull, “creator? readers? story?” He looked up, “are you from a universe that views everything as stories?”

Ink waved his hand about, unsure, “Kinda? Sometimes?.” He shrugged, “Things get a bit hard to translate with words when you’re dealing with multiple versions of yourself speaking through multiple Creators, each with different ideas about how you work or what you do or don’t know. As far as you guys are concerned, I’m here temporarily with nothing I’m doing lasting to become canon to this, or the other, stories.”

When no one responded, he folded his arms, “Look, it’s all true! That’s why I can see what the Creator’s got planned for you guys; it’s a story with key events planned out. For example, you’ve got a bike show to look forward to, a road trip, karaoke night with drinking and dancing, and you’re going to meet Mama Cry at some point. Not to mention there’s this thing with the apple t͠ręe ̨t̛h͘at̕ c͠͡lu͏̷͠e̴s ̨͟y͞͞ơư ̸͘̕in͝ ҉̵t̢ha͘t҉̴͡ ͟Y̸͢/̷͝͏͠n ̶͘i͘͠s̴͢ r͏͞e̷a̶̕̕ļ͜͞l͟y̶̛͞ m̶̸s҉ul̡͞g̨̕͞҉͟h̸͘ds̕͜͢͡a̧ a̧͡js̢͢҉̕d̢̡j̵̧͞w̷̨.”

While everyone stared up at him in shock that he was suddenly slurring his words, Ink raised a hand to his mouth, before glaring up to the sky.

“Are you censoring me?? Seriously?!? How is that even possible??”

As Ink started waving his fists into the air, Sans gestured for everyone to gather around him. “okay, so this guy is clearly insane. thoughts?”

“LET’S KILL HIM AND BE RID OF THIS CRACKPOT ALREADY.” Black said, summoning his weapon again.

"no telling if that will actually work.” Mutt said with a shrug.

“PLUS, MURDER’S WRONG!” Papyrus said fervently as Blueberry nodded his agreement as Black and Edge rolled their eyes.

“i still want to know how he got in.” Sans said, looking worried, “i know it wasn’t through our machine.”

“He said something about his ink pool.” Y/n pointed out, adding another question she planned to ask Sans about.

Red scoffed, “sure, cause if i had a weak spot, i’d be sure to point it out ter honest about it.”

“i can check.” suggested Stretch.

Sans nodded, “first chance you get, you sneak off and ran a few tests.”

“IN THE MEANTIME,” Edge said, summoning his own bone weapon, “I SAY WE KEEP HIM DISTRACTED BY TRYING TO KILL HIM. HARD TO NOTICE SOMEONE’S MISSING IF YOU’VE GOT MULTIPLE ENEMIES TRYING TO KILL YOU AT ONCE.”

“PLUS, IF IT WORKS, IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW HE GOT IN BECAUSE HE’LL BE DEAD!” Black grinned, “WE CAN SHOVE HIS DUST BACK INTO WHATEVER HOLE HE CRAWLED OUT OF!”

“MURDER IS STILL WRONG GUYS!” Blueberry cried out, folding his arms.

“Plus, it’d never work.” Ink said, appearing in the gathering, suddenly.

Everyone jumped away, quickly getting some distance between them and him.

Ink lent back, beaming, “But if you need to get it out of your system, then you guys can do whatever you want to try and get rid of me before I get into the swing of things.” He pulled out his phone, “I’ll give you an hour.”

“and hour?” Sans asked, glaring at him suspiciously.

Ink started tapping on his phone, “An hour to do whatever you want to try and get rid of me.” He looked up, grinning, “But when that hour’s up, I start inflicting some of these Reader ideas on you! I’ve got soo many good ones here; I don’t know which to choose!”

There was a brief moment where nobody moved.

Then Edge and Black, at the same time, summoned blasters. These blasters opened their maws in unison and let loose a beam of death upon the still text Ink, eclipsing his form in a beam of pure light and energy. Intense heat radiated back to them, even from this distance, as the ground around the spot that was getting blasters began to catch on fire.

“Guys!” Y/n called out, fearing that they would start a wildfire and more than a little stunned that they just so easily killed the guy.

They both lowered their hands and their blasters stopped and hung in the air, each looking pleased with itself.

Until they all noticed that Ink was still texting, completely unscratched.

He looked around him in mild curiosity, before going back to his texting, “Huh, look at that. It’s almost like I wrote myself in to be impervious to all damage or something.”

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Shrieked Black, holding up his weapon, “NOTHING IS BEYOND HARMING!!”

With that, he ran forward and plunged his weapon into Ink’s chest.

Only for the weapon to crumbling into dust upon impact.

Ink chuckled, “No luck Black?”

From the corner of her eye, Y/n noticed that Stretch was no longer with them as Edge’s eyes blazed red.

“I’LL SHOW YOU LUCK!”

He rose his hand up and suddenly, Ink was in a field of sharp bones, jolting right out the ground.

Only Ink was in his own little patch of still singed ground, completely safe.

“Anyone else want to try something?” Ink asked, looking at everyone watching, dumbfounded, “I’m feeling generous, so ask me any questions and I’ll answer them.”

“WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!?” Black yelled, still trying to stab him with bone weapons as Edge rained death upon him.

Ink grinned as the bones landed around him but left him completely harmless, “I’ve already told you; I’m invulnerable in this form.”

“HOW DO WE KILL YOU?!?”

Ink shrugged, “Television? Maths homework? Political correctness? Anything that kills creativity, I guess?”

“WHAT KIND OF WEAKNESS IS THAT?!?” shrieked Edge.

As Ink laughed, Sans spoke up and over all the sounds of the two still attacking Ink, “you said something about this being a story?”

Ink’s eyes lit up, “Not just any story. This Creator’s most successful story! So many people read this one, and it’s not hard to see why!” He looked around the backyard, “Me personally, I think the story’s going too slow. I mean, it’s been close to a year of writing for the Creator and yet it’s only three, maybe 4 weeks since you guys moved in?? That’s insane! But then again, you guys have such good character development, with Y/n having a few quirks to keep her interesting. I mean, as a typical reader-self-insert, you, Y/n, aren’t meant to have much personality, but then again, this Creator came at it from the idea of what most people would be like if they had gone through what you had. You know, being small and forgotten, fighting to protect your home?”

“if this is all a story,” Sans began, humouring him, “then our world is, what, nothing but words on a page?”

“Words on a document, uploaded to a fanfic site, but sure.” Ink grinned, “It’s why I know things that even the Readers (i.e-Y/n), doesn’t. Things that are in the story that hints at other things at play. Subtle clues, if you will.”

“like what?”

Ink tapped the side of his nose, “My, that’s Quite a Question from such a Quizzically fellow, eh Sans?”

Sans’s smile slipped, “…yeah, I guess it is.”

Ink laughed, “Don’t worry; everything’s safe and secure. The way I know any of this stuff isn’t writing into the story. Besides, as I said, nothing I do is going to leave any lasting impact on you guys, even if I wanted it to, so you can relax.”

“YOU-YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HURT US, ARE YOU?” Papyrus asked, looking uneasy.

“I’m not planning anything, really. Consider me just the mouthpiece for the Readers’ desires.”

“so what do you get out of this then?” Red asked, both hands in his jacket, “if nothin’s permanent, why bother?”

Ink beamed, “Why, for entertainment, of course! Just because you guys won’t remember this doesn’t mean other’s won't get a laugh! I’m certainly enjoying myself so far.”

“you’re going to reset time?” Sans asked, very quickly.

Ink waved his hand, “Nah. Resetting time creates another AU. I’m keeping the same AU, but locking this moment of time to me. I guess you could debate if any of you will remember this when I come back next year (or perhaps I should say 'if' I come back), but everything that happens after my portal appeared and before it disappears is tied to me and goes when I do.”

He looked down at his phone, chuckling as he read, apparently done with the conversation.

Everyone else continued to look at him, before each other, at a complete loss at what to do or think. Meanwhile, Edge and Black had not ceased their attempts to cause some harm to Ink, even as they worked together. Eventually, Red and Mutt joined them, each attempting something that would affect Ink in some way, from pulling him in any direction, to trying to grab his soul with their magic.

None of it worked, and Ink was left to his texting, looking like he was having the time of his left as he stood in a field of failed attacks.

As the hour neared its end and Y/n, Sans, Papyrus and Blueberry watched on in apprehension from a distance, Ink looked back up, pulling a letter from his shirt.

“Y/n?” He called out, waving it around, “Before Stretch comes back, I’d like you to have this.”

“Why?” she called out, not trusting this guy even in the slightest.

“It’s going to prove I can predict the future and help lead the story into what other powers I have, thus introducing The Box.”

“……What are you talking about?”

Ink sighed, “Just hold onto this letter and don’t open it till after Stretch gives his little report, please?”

Still not trusting this guy, but now feeling like their entire situation may be completely beyond their ability to even influence, Y/n asked Sans to fetch the letter, who simply used his magic to bring the letter other to her. The letter wasn’t that impressive; wider than she was tall with a sloppily drawn smiling winking face that she didn’t much care for.

Part of her was still questioning if this was her reality at all or some sort of elaborate, vivid fever dream, but she knew that part of her was also trying desperately not to think too hard about what it would mean for her if any part of Ink’s tale was true.

Stretch appeared next to Sans, looking like he had been there the whole time, leaning back and completely at ease.

Sans sighed warily, looking over at him, “tell me you have good news.”

“kinda. first, i couldn’t get a sample of that puddle. like at all.”

“so how are we suppose to know what it’s made from?” Red asked, coming over with Mutt as Edge and Black continued attacking.

“that was easy. with you guys distracting him, i was able to get a scan of it at least.”

“ink knew what you were doing.” Sans looked over to see Ink waving cheekily, his other hand still holding his phone, “think he doesn’t really care what we’re doing.”

“I’d tell you everything about it myself if I knew you wouldn’t believe me!” Ink called out, apparently able to hear them.

“reckon we should take this conversation elsewhere.” Mutt said, leaning back and eyeing Ink distrustfully.

“You can go wherever you want; I can always follow!” Ink brightened, “What me to prove it?!”

Sans shook his head, narrowing his eyes at Ink’s direction, “i’m not keen to leave him somewhere where my eye isn’t on him.” He gestured to Stretch, “so, what did you find out?”

Stretch pulled out a cigarette and began lighting up, “it’s made out of ink. as in, nothing but normal, buy it in any art store ink.”

“you’re shittin' me.” Red retorted.

“checked it multiple times myself.” Stretch blew a puff of smoke away from everyone, tapping the ash off, “it’s also receding at a consistent rate that puts it disappearing in about a day.”

“how long, exactly?” Sans asked.

“about twenty-three hours.”

“Exactly like I said!” Ink called out through Edge’s and Black’s attacks.

“but-but it’s got to be somethin' else!” Red cried out angrily, “I refuse to believe that ‘ink’ is the conduct to which you can travel between universes!”

“how certain are we that it wasn’t your machine?” Mutt asked, looking over at Sans.

“as certain as i can possibly be.” Sans waved a hand towards him, “you know the systems I have in place, monitoring that thing. you really think any of that failed?”

Mutt shrugged, before looking over at Stretch, “you checked everything?”

Stretch listed things off on his fingers, the lit cigarette between his other hand, “magic level, exp level, void matter, soul fragments, electrical impulses. if you can think can think of something i left out, i do believe that’s everything.”

When no one suggested anything else, Sans asked, “so, maybe it’s this guy and how ink interacts with him? i mean, he volunteered the name ‘ink’, that’s got to mean something.”

“are you suggestin' we push him into the ink puddle and see if that doesn’t work?” Red asked, already turning to face Ink.

Ink waved his hands and called out, “No need to push me in! I’ll go willingly.”

He walked through the bone attacks that surrounded him, making each disappear in a cloud of magical dust (much to Edge’s and Black’s outrage) and walked off to the far distance where the ink puddle still sat. He walked with no hesitation into its centre, holding his arms open and jumping up and down, to no effect.

“Anything else?” He called out.

Seeing all their glum expression, he snapped his finger and suddenly, he was next to Sans, an arm around his shoulders. He poked Y/n’s side before Sans could jump out of the way, “So, I think it’s time for that letter, now that we’ve established I’m not going anywhere.”

She glared at him, before looking at the letter in her hands.

“I’LL OPEN IT FOR YOU!” Papyrus offered.

Sighing, she nodded and handed to him, watching him (as well as the others) as Papyrus opened the letter and held it out for her to read.

She and Sans groaned as they read.

“WILL ONE OF YOU TELL THE REST OF US?!” Edge snapped, standing next to a heavily breathing Black as they joined back with the group.

“it’s exactly everything we’ve said about his portal. including descriptions on how we said it.” Sans said, taking the letter and passing it around, “just like it would be if you wrote it up in a story.”

“Including this part.” Y/n said, realising that the last part of the letter ended with her say that very sentence, talking about how she relasied that letter was talking about her talking about-

“I’m going to put a stop on that little thought loop and point out that I can predict the future accurately.” Ink said, interrupting her thoughts…..wait, what did he say?

“SO HE CAN PREDICT THE NEAR FUTURE!” Black snapped, crushing up the letter and tossing it other his shoulder before everyone had a chance to read it, “SO WHAT?!”

“so it means he knows what we’re planning,” Sans looked slowly over to Ink’s beaming face, “before we even know.”

“THAT JUST MEANS WE HAVE TO BE UNPREDICTABLE AND SPORADIC!” Edge insisted.

In the next instance, he flung a bone at Ink, who easily caught it.

“What part of ‘I can predict the future’ was lost in translation Edge?” Ink asked, tossing the bone over his shoulder.

Before Edge could respond, he held up a hand, “I’m also going to stop that insult and move on to pointing out that I have other, equally impossible and near-limitless powers.”

“BULLSHIT!” Black snarled, “THERE ARE LIMITS TO MAGIC AND PHYSICS, AND YOU, ARE NO EXCEPTION!”

Ink threw his head back, laughing, “Black! I AM the exception to everything! Everything I do is an exception! See, I’ll prove it.”

He took the paintbrush off his back and jammed it in Y/n’s face, moving quicker than anyone had a chance to react. In the next instance, Sans gave a cry of alarm and pain as Y/n grew rapidly, returning to her old, original height. Her weight quickly toppled Sans over, and the two found themselves on the ground.

Seeing her arms resting on Sans’s chest and how big they were, scared the heck out of Y/n, who gave a wild cry of “Wha- what??!??” as she pushed herself away, patting the rest of herself down.

The other skeletons were just as surprised as she was.

“Y/N!” Blueberry cried, throwing himself into her arms, “YOU’RE BACK TO REGULAR HUMAN SIZE!!”

“She sure is!” beamed Ink as the other skeletons gathers around for a closer look, “I even made sure to let her clothes grow with her (although, I want the record to show that I could have done something way more fun and interesting!)”

“Ho-how is that even possible?!?” Sans cried out, staring at her in absolute disbelief as he sat on the ground next to her, “No-nothing we’ve ever done could ever restore any of the bitties to their height, even temporary!”

Ink grinned, “Because I didn’t fix the ‘bitty’ problem Sans; I just made a bitty big. Trust me, there’s a difference and something you’re still going to have to deal with in later chapters.”

Sans looked even more lost than he had before, and probably would have remained on the ground if his brother hadn’t offered his hand, pulling Sans onto his feet.

As he brushed down his unresponsive brother down, Papyrus said, softly, “Don’t worry Sans. You’ll figure it out. I have no doubt.”

Ink rubbed his hands as Stretch pulled Y/n to her feet, Blueberry taking a step back from her but still remaining close,  “Now that’s I’ve established that I’m all powerful-“ “Did you make my boobs a bigger size???” Y/n cried out in outrage as she finished looking herself over.“-I can, at last, introduce The Box!”

“the box?” Sans asked, the question pulling him from his thoughts.

Ink beamed as he pulled a box from out behind his back. The box was unimpressive and rather plain, with just a small slip at the top that one might use to put paper into it. Where he was keeping it was anyone’s guess.

He patted the box affectionately, keeping it under his arm, “I’ve been storing all the ideas the Readers have for me all day in this thing. Of course, I’ve had to collect these things ahead of their time, so some Readers are going to be confused if they weren’t around in April, I believe.” He turned to look at Y/n, “I’m talking to the Readers right now in the month of April of this year. Still talking, as a matter of fact. It’s complicated, with lots of time wibbly-wobbly bits to it.”

“Why are you explaining your insanity to me?” She asked, folding her arms over her bigger boobs.

Ink snickered, “I’m explaining myself to the Readers, via you. Anyway,” he looked around at the rest of the skeletons, “Here’s the deal; every hour, I pull out a random idea from this box and make it happen.”

“like what?” Stretch asked, looking apprehensive along with everyone else.

Ink threw an arm open wide, “Oh the ideas that they’re coming up with! So many interesting and wonderful possible combinations! From random pregnancies (to anyone one of you) to multiplying you guys, making you small, making you human, making you anything that any fanfic reader or writer has ever thought of!”

“we’re so fucked.” Red muttered, eyeing the box distastefully.

“DON’T WE GET ANY SAY IN ANY OF THIS?” Papyrus asked, “WHAT IF WE DON’T LIKE THE CHANGES?”

Ink rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “….I guess I can make it a bit fair to you guys and easier on myself writing this chapter.” He pulled out a plain wrist watch and showed it to them, “This clock here will be responsible for keeping track of how long you have until the next change and what the change is. It’ll also keep track of the….let’s call them ‘Resets’ for a laugh.”

“What do the resets do?” Y/n asked, noticing half of the skeletons around her stiffening for some reason.

“You guys can relax; my resets are nothing like the kids.” Ink looked away from the guys to answer her question, “When I say ‘resets’ I mean that things go back to normal, but the clock keeps ticking on to the next change. So let’s say, you were turned purple, then grew wings, and then burst into fire. Supposing that’s the point you couldn’t stand things anymore, you’d use a reset and go back to how you were before any of that….until the next hour ticks over and now you’re covered in feathers.”

“What’s stopping you from making something happen twice?” Y/n asked, narrowing his eyes at him, “We could waste a reset, only for you to put us back on fire.”

Ink rolled his eyes as he patted the box, “With all these ideas, what fun is there in seeing something twice?”

“I’m guessing you’re not going to give us infinite resets.” She asked, knowing the answer.

“Nope.” Ink said, cheerfully, “Just three. Things always come in threes, ever noticed that?”

“THEN I’M USING ONE TO RESET US TO A POINT BEFORE THAT STUPID BOX AND WATCH EVER EXISTED!” Black snapped, looking rather pleased of himself.

Both the box and the watch popped out of existence, but before Black could celebrate, Ink pulled out a pocket watch instead, waving it around cheekily, “And just like that, there goes one of your resets.”

“YOU IDIOT!” Edge yelled, turning to glare down at Black, “WHY DIDN’T YOU AT LEAST SAY TO A POINT WHEN HE WASN’T HERE?!?”

“LIKE HE’S GOING TO ALLOW THAT KIND OF THING TO HAPPEN!” Black yelled back, swelling in rage.

Ink waggled his eyes brows, “Wanna give it a try, Edge Lord?”

Edge pointed to him, menacingly “I’M RESESTING TO A TIME WHEN YOUR INSUFFERABLE SELF WASN'T ON OUR PROPERTY!!”

Ink popped out of time and existence, only to come back, standing right in front of Edge. “Miss me?” He grinned.

“WHA- YOU LAIR!! YOU’RE RESET DID NOTHING!!”

“It did.” Ink chuckled, obviously enjoying himself, very much, “I was placed back in a time when I wasn’t on your property, but seeing as how I can’t exist without my portal, I was just moved to the property that Black ‘owns’ for a brief moment.”

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN??” Black yelled at the same time Edge yelled, “HOW DOES THAT COUNT AS ANY FAIR MEASUREMENT OF TIME??”

Ink laughed as he clung to his sides, before gasping suddenly as an idea came to him, “Ooohhh! Try wishing my portal away! I’m actually curious if that means I get to stay here indefinitely!”

Sans sighed heavily, gesturing exasperatedly at Edge and Black, “can we not, for like a few minutes guys!?” He turned towards Ink and all his smugness, “listen buddy, but if your aim was to make this fair on us, then you’re blowing it. the very least you can do is either tie the resests to the watch or make it just one of us who can decide when to use a reset.”

Ink seemed to consider it, before nodding, “Yeah, I can agree with that.” He handed over the pocket watch to Y/n, who took it, looking at him questioningly, “I’ll give you guys back your three resets too, on the condition that only you can actually say when you want them to happen, Y/n.” He winked, “Be sure not to waste these ones as fast, okay? Otherwise, I can always scrap this and do that one Sims idea that I really liked.”

Y/n clicked open the pocket watch, showing how long Ink was here for, how long until the next random thing happened and what that random thing was going to be.

There were only a few seconds before the next event happened.

She looked up from the pocket watch and held it out to Ink, “Is this really what I think it is?”

Ink beamed, “Well, I called this chapter ‘Ink Service’ for a reason.”

The final second ticked down, and suddenly, all the guys were standing around looking at each other in surprise and alarm.

And shirtless.

“WH-WHAT HAPPENED??” Papyrus cried out, trying to cover himself as he blushed.

Blueberry was a bright blue as he spied the shirt he had just been wearing at his feet. As he quickly grabbed it from the ground and hurriedly tried putting it on over his scarf, Black scoffed, posing and unconcerned his ribs were on display, “IF THAT’S THE WORSE THAT STUPID WATCH CAN DO, THEN WE HAVE EVEN LESS TO FEAR THAN I SUSPECTED!”

“DON’T GET COCKY, BLACK!” Edge cried, folding his arms in disguise to cover himself, “AND CERTAINLY DON’T ENCOURAGE THE EGOMANIAC!”

Before Black could respond, Blueberry let out a cry of shock, “MY-MY SHIRT WON’T STAY ON MY BODY!!”

Indeed, it was back on the floor, folded neatly.

Stretch and Mutt both shrugged and apparently uncaring, while Sans and Red tried looking as uncaring, but kept looking at their own pile of clothes at their feet.

Ink hand his hands up to his mouth, hiding a big smile, “And so it begins!”

“What are you, a teenage girl??” Y/n asked, turning her back on the guys to glare at Ink.

Ink cocked his hips out to the side, giving her a knowing smile, “Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t check out each and every one of them Y/n.” He waved a hand towards them. “They’re all together, all completely bare-chested. Just picture it.”

She didn’t need to; she had already had that image burned into her mind. Now her cheeks were burning as brightly as the image in her mind which wouldn’t leave!

From behind her, she could hear the guys complaining about the unfairness and physics-defying nature of this curse, when she felt someone leaning on her back, throwing their arms around her neck.

“y/n,” Stretch said playfully in her ear, “mind filling us in what’s coming next? i want to know if i should be worried my pants are next.”

Y/n shuddered, completely involuntarily, as she hurriedly took a step forward and away from him, desperate for space. Knowing her face was scarlet, she covered her face and cried out, “First Impressions! The watch said something about Impressions!”

“huh? that’s weird.” Sans’s voice said from behind her, “think that might have something to do with meeting someone new?”

“HEY SANS?” Papyrus whispered in a loud, stage-whisper, “WHY IS Y/N ALL RED LIKE THAT?”

“she is?” Red asked, finally taking notice.

Next thing she knew, she felt a bone arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her in, “babydoll, are you blushin' because the sight of our near- naked bodies is makin' you feel strange, sexy things?”

Knocking him away with her hips, Y/n turned her back to him, keeping her face hidden in her hands.

“THE PET IS PROBABLY OVERCOME WITH UNBELIEVE DESIRE FOR MY SEXINESS!” Black said, coming in closer to her and wrapping his arm around her instead, before his voice turned away from and towards the others, “THE REST OF YOU ARE JUST EMBARRASSING YOURSELVES!”

“YOUR EGO KNOWS NO BOUNDS!” Edge snapped, before adding, “OBVIOUSLY, IT’S MY FLAWLESS SELF THAT HAS MADE HER FLUSH IN TANTALISING EXCITEMENT!”

“If we could talk about anything else, that would be great!” She cried out, dying in embarrassment.

“sure, want to talk about who you think the sexiest skeleton is?” Stretch asked sassily.

She pulled her hands away and gave him a deadpan looking, ignoring him posing with a hand behind his head and one of his hips. “SOMETHING else, please.”

“HOW ABOUT WE TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT IT IS TO HAVE YOU RETURNED TO YOUR FULL SIZE!” Papyrus exclaimed, rushing over to her and taking her from Black’s arms to spin her around, hugging her to his bare ribs.

As Y/n felt her face light up even more, she heard Red mutter, “or how unfair it is that this shirt thing only affected us.”

Ink shrugged, “Sexier this way, and less running-away-to-hide. I did think about it, but I guess a Y/n insert wouldn’t hang around and talk in nothing but a bar in front of all of your guys.”

“Actually, I have a few questions of my own.” She looked over at Sans, “But I think it requires you explaining some things to me.”

Sans rubbed the back of his skull, looking wearily, “yeah. i guess i do.”

Papyrus put her gently on the ground and walked over to his brother’s side, patting his back supportively. Blueberry came over to her then, guiding her to a nice spot in the grass, sitting down himself before patting the ground next to him.

As Y/n sat, the others came to sit on the ground too, forming a large circle in the sun’s light (with Ink and Edge the only exceptions as Edge stood glaring at Ink and Ink was looking around with keen interest, too energetic to sit down).

Sans took a deep breath as he sat opposite of her, before gesturing to everyone in the circle, “well, i guess the first thing you should know is that everyone here is either called sans or papyrus. as in, that’s our proper name.” he pointed to Ink, “including him, but i don’t know his story or where he came from, so you’re going to have to ask him.”

“Don’t bother.” Ink said, looking away from his scanning of the backyard, “My time’s too valuable to waste talking about myself. Keep asking your questions to Sans though Y/n. It’ll make for an interesting comparison later.”

Y/n looked away from Ink to search each of her friends’ expressions, “So-so who’s name is Sans?” Sans, Red, Blueberry, Black and even Ink raised their hands, “Which leaves everyone else as Papyrus, right?” They all nodded, watching her carefully, “…Well, that’s a coincidence. Why the same names? Is it like a skeleton classification thing or something? Different names for how tall you are?”

Stretch chuckled from next to her, “nah, nothing like that.”

Sans nodded, “we share the same names because,” He took a deep breath, “we’re the same pair of brothers, just from different realities. me and paps are the versions of ourselves from here, but everyone else is from a completely different universe.”

Y/n just stared, “….Different realities? Like alternative dimensions? Like that cartoon show with the grandpa and grandson?”

“we’ve been using the terminologies ‘alternative univers’ or au for short, but yeah, that’s not a far-off comparison.”

She looked around the group, seeing each pair of eye lights on her.

“The similarities I keep noticing.” She said, quietly to herself, “The same mannerisms, the way you talk and even your interests.” She looked up and stared at Papyrus, Edge, Blueberry and Black, “Even the way you guys laugh! They-they are so similar!”

“STRETCH LAUGHS LIKE I DO ON OCCASION.” Papyrus pointed out.

Blueberry nodded, “AND I’VE EVEN HEARD SANS LIKE ME ONCE.”

He stared at him, “when??”

“IT WAS BACK AT THE OLD HOUSE? WHEN QUEEN TORIEL CAME BY FOR A VISIT AND WE HAD TO HIDE?”

Sans blushed lightly, looking away in embarrassment, “hee, well, i sure surprised to see you laughing like i do, only at the same rate as paps here.”

Y/n’s mind was reeling. It was insane, but it also made too much sense! That’s why they looked the same! Why they were brothers with only one other skeleton, despite looking so much like each other!

“How-how did this happen??” She asked at last, looking back up at Sans, “Is this magic or-“

It clicked.

“The machine in the basement. That’s what did it, isn’t it? It’s some sort of realities portal device, right?”

Sans shook his head, “it’s not designed for that.” he held out a hand to her, stopping her next question, “and before you ask, no, i don’t actually know what its purpose is. i can only guess that it was trying to harvest energy from across realities to break the barrier, back when that was still an issue for us monsters, but instead, it tore the guy who created it from every reality, leaving us with no memories of the guy and just his burnt notes on what he was doing.”

“So, why do you have it now? Unless I’m mistaken, monsters were freed because of the ambassador child, Frisk, right?”

Sans looked uneasy as he broke eye contact with her, “why? because we monsters were never able to get out of there ourselves.” his shoulders hunched, “we’re had to….rely upon a human setting us free.” he looked back at her, shrugging, “not saying i don’t like the peace and all between our races, but i hope you can see why monsters are still looking into the whole ‘banishment’ thing?”

Y/n nodded, realising that if something did happen between the races again, of course the monsters would want a way to escape on their own. She certainly wouldn’t want to be banished and just hope someone stumbled upon her prison and was kind enough to free her.

“How many different versions of you made to this reality?” She asked quietly, looking around at all the different versions of the brothers.

“….many.” Sans answered, just as softly, “you haven’t met them all yet.”

“And it’s my hope we’ll get to introduce a few of them in this chapter!” Ink said happily, “But that entirely depends on what Reader ideas makes it to the watch.”

Everyone ignored him.

“you’re takin' things remarkable well babydoll,” Red said, looking at her in concern, “you still with us?”

She nodded, “It doesn’t change anything for me.” She met each set of eyes, “You’re all different enough to easily be considered your own person, regardless of the truth. So, assuming you like your nicknames, nothing really changes on my end….I mean, the world certainly got weirder when monsters turned out to be real and I shrank to the size of a can. Add this to the pile, I say.”

“Ah, spoken like a copy of another Y/n character from another story this one is based on.” Ink grinned.

She looked over at him, before looking at Sans, “So you’re telling me he didn’t come through whatever portal dragged the others in?”

Sans shook his head, eyeing Ink, “nope.”

“But you’re obviously expecting someone to cross in, judging by how well you reacted when we first saw him.”

Sans sighed, “kid-y/n, part of the deal with infinite realities is that there are literally infinite combinations and possibilities of sanses and papyruses out there. we suspect that, until we fix the machine and send everyone back, we’ve opened up some sort of door for others to cross (or at least, we’ve made our existence known). we’re fortunate that not many of the ones that got pulled through were all-powerful,” he gestured to Ink, who waved, “but it might explain why someone with his power bothered to come to this reality in the first place.”

“Oh, you’ll find me in any reality that a Creator created (see, it’s funny because, for a reality to even get a name in the Reader’s world, it needs a Creator to think of it, hence I can technically go to all realities).”

She ignored Ink to smile gently at Sans, who still looked tense, “So, why didn’t you tell me? About the machine and you guys? I understand not telling me at first, but I hope I’ve proven trustworthy? That I really do see all of you as your own person? Were you hoping I’d either stumble upon that truth myself or never figurer it out?”

Papyrus placed both hands on his brother’s shoulder, looking over at her, “WE-WE DIDN’T WANT TO ALARM YOU. SANS HAS BEEN WORKING SO HARD TO FIX THE MACHINE, BUT….BUT THERE ARE RISKS. WE’VE DONE EVERYTHING WE CAN TO PROTECT EVERYONE, TO KEEP EVERYONE HAPPY AND SAFE, BUT IT’S ONLY RECENTLY THAT THINGS HAVE SETTLED.”

“WHY STIR UP TROUBLE?” Edge agreed as he nodded his head.

Stretch patted her knee, “we weren’t kidding when we told you things are a lot more settled since we moved in with you.”

“EVEN I MUST ADMIT THAT.” Black said, folding his arms.

She smiled warmly, leaning back, “Alright. I guess I can see that. And if it helps, I promise I’ll never tell anyone about you guys or the machine. I-I can see how if word got out, it would cause trouble for you.”

Sans returned her smile, looking far more relaxed as he did so, “no doubt about your integrity kid, but thanks. i appreciate the gesture.”

She waved him off, blushing slightly, “Now that we’ve cleared the air and I can cross off all my burning questions,” She gestured to herself, “can we talk about me being big again?!?”

“YES!” Blueberry threw his arms around her once again, and Y/n gladly returned the hug, nuzzling him, “IT’S SO NICE TO BE ABLE TO HUG YOU PROPERLY WITHOUT FEARING THAT YOU COULD GET HURT!”

She laughed, blushing as she was pressed to his bare ribs, “You’re, um, hugging me a bit too tight there…Blue?”

“OOPS!” He quickly eased up, but still held her in his arms, “AND YOU CAN KEEP CALLING ME BLUEBERRY OR BLUE! I RATHER LIKE THE NICKNAME!”

Stretch ruffled up her hair affectionately, before standing up himself, “can’t lie and say i won’t miss being able to carry you around, honey,” he offered his hand to her, “but i reckon it’d be nice to having you walk by my side.”

“Argh, walking.” She grinned playfully as she was pulled up onto her feet. Once standing, she compared herself to Stretch, frowning slightly, “Damn, still shorter than you!”

Stretch laughed as the others got onto their feet too, “at least you’re taller than all the sanses.”

There came various splutterings of indignation from all the skeletons truly called Sans, while all the Papyrus looked smug and snickered.

Papyrus as she knew him, came bounding for her, lifting her into the air as he spun her around. “Y/N! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM TO SEE YOU RESTORED LIKE THIS!”

“Not as happy as me!” She said, hugging him back and tried ignoring his bare ribs, “It’s so nice to be able to wrap my arms around people again!”

“it’s the little things you miss.” Red said, grinning cheekily.

When Papyrus placed her back on the ground, she flipped him off, much to his amusement. Before he fully recovered, she had walked over to him and lightly punched his arm. “Still being mean to me I see, no matter what size I am.”

Red rubbed his arm, mockingly complaining, “ow! what did i do?”

Before she could think of a good response, he was pulling her to him and hugging her tightly. “damn if it isn’t good to see like this babydoll.”

Y/n blush yet again at the affection in his tone, but hugged him back, “Even if it’s just temporary and we could all forget this?”

He shrugged, “you should learn to take what happiness you can get, when you can.”

She pushed herself back, searching his expression, “Is that something you had to learn back in your universe?”

Red’s hands slipped to her waist even as he turned away to avoid looking in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean-“

He stopped her, “i-i’ll talk about it.” he dropped his hands and stepped back, “but just not today.”

“Right.” Feeling like she just stuck her nose in some rather personal issues for her friend, she turned and instead asked Sans, “Do-do you think people will remember me?”

Sans raised an eyebrow, “are you thinking of someone in particular? we can always check for you?”

She shook her head, “Nah. I, um, I cut a lot of ties after the car crash and didn’t bother making new friends after I was ‘bittified’.”

Ink spoke up, “Just want to point two things out right quick; first, I made you big, not cure you. You’re still forgotten and totally erased from the world. Secondly, while telling time in stories can be a bit weird, it’s about time to add another Reader idea and you should all probably prepare.”

“who are you tdragging here?” Sans asked, walking towards him.

“Ohhh, you know them…even if it’s been….basically no time.” Ink grinned, sly.

“What is that suppose to mean?” Y/n said as she pulled out her watch to see the final seconds tick down, “And what good is this thing if you’re going to be cryptic about it?”

“It’s not cryptic.” Ink sighed, taking the pocket watch from her like she was an old person mashing buttons on a remote control, “Rather than drown out the screen with text, I made it that you’ve got to scroll down it. You know, read the whole thing?”

“Oh, forgive me for not realising that a pocket watch as a touch screen.” She snapped, taking the watch from his smugness.

“WHO ARE YOU IMPOSTERS?!?” Edge yelled out from behind her back.

Still holding the watch in hand, she turned to see Edge had Papyrus by his throat, lifting him high by his red glowing magic.

“WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE ME?!? WHERE AM I AND WHY AM I SHIRTLESS!?! I DEMAND ANSWERS, THIS VERY INSTANCE!!”

“Let him go!” Y/n yelled, at the same time a bone attack came flying at Edge’s hand, with Sans’s dark scowl in place.

The bone attack was blocked by another bone attack, as Red stood by his brother’s side, looking malicious.

“too slow, even uglier version of me.”

Sans’s grin tightened, “at least we’ve both got ‘winning’ smiles, right pal?”

Red’s sharp grin grew.

“SANS.” Papyrus croaked, clutching at his throat.

Sans’s eyes blazed blue, with flickers of yellow in their depth, “last chance, pointy look-alike.” His eyes vanished, “let. him. go.”

Edge began to laughing, only to stop suddenly as he was attacked from behind. Having only just narrowly dodged a volley of sharp bone attacks, Edge spun around, enraged at Black, who was grinning smugly at him, tossing a bone in his hand lazily.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT SAD MONSTER YOU USE TO BE THAT YOU WOULD CHANGE YOUR APPEARANCE AND CLOTHES TO LOOK LIKE MY BROTHER AND ME,” he pointed the bone at Edge, “BUT NOT EVEN YOUR WORSHIP OF MY PERFECT SELF WILL KEEP ME CRUSHING YOU INTO DUST IF YOU DON’T HAND OVER YOUR HUMAN!”

“MY HUMAN?!” Edge looked over his shoulder, to Y/n watching this unfold.

Another bone was aimed and managed to hit Edge’s hand, but this time, it didn’t come from Sans.

“YOU SHOULDN’T BE ATTACKING MONSTERS LIKE THIS!” Blueberry called out, posing valiantly as Stretch stood behind him, his own weapon pointing between Edge and Black, “IN THE NAME OF THE ROYAL GUARD (in training), I DEMAND YOU STOP THIS AT ONCE!”

As Black doubled over in laughter, Edge finished rubbing his sore hand to glare at Blueberry, before raising his hand up in a flair of red magic. Stretch grabbed the back of Blueberry’s scarf and teleported them both just as the area the two had been standing in had wicked sharp bones spring up from the ground, nearly skewering them both.

Blueberry looked shaken as he glanced over at his brother, “TH-THANK YOU, PAPPY.”

Stretch nodded, then glanced back up at the others.

Sans was by Papyrus’s side, struggling to lift him up and carrying him out of harm's way as Edge screamed at Blueberry, “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME, YOU PATHETIC WHELP!”

He summoned a fleet of Blasters, aiming them all at Stretch and Blueberry.

“time to go.” Stretch said, before grabbing his brother again, teleporting away.

“wait!” Sans cried, too late. Dropping his outstretch hand, Sans instead looked around, before his eyes settled on Y/n, his grin tightening.

“What’s happening??” Y/n cried out, clinging to the pocket watch tightly in fear, “Why are they attacking each other??”

Ink leaned over and tapped the pocket watch.

Flicking it open quickly, Y/n scrolled down, reading the rest of the description beyond the title.

First Impressions; ‘What if all the skeletons forget each other and it’s like how it was back when they first met?’

Before she could close it, Sans had teleported in front of her, grabbing her should hard as he grinned at her, his eye lights gone.

“hey pal. mind telling me what you did to me and my bro? why we can’t remember coping ourselves into assholes?”

“I-I didn’t do anything!”

Sans’s smile widened, “sure thing buddy. a bunch of skeletons monsters just appeared on your front lawn, right?”

“Sans! it’s me, Y/n, remember??”

Sans shook his head slowly, lifting her slightly from the ground in his crushing grip of her shoulder. “don’t remember telling you my name human. so tell me, how do you know that and what exactly is going on?”

One of her hands grasped the hand holding her up tightly, as she fumbled with the pocket watch, “It’s Ink! He’s taken away all your memories! You all know each other! You’re friends!! We’re friends!!”

Sans sidestepped out of the way of a bone attack was flung his way. Looking over his shoulder, he looked back to see Black, Mutt, Edge and Red facing him, some distance apart from each other.

“STOP MAN-HANDLING MY HUMAN!” Black snapped.

“YOU’RE HUMAN?!?” Edge scoffed, “I’M SORRY, BRAT, BUT YOU’LL HAVE TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO PLAY TEA PARTY WITH.”

Edge backflipped out of the way as a bone volley was sent his way, looking smug as he stood back up.

“NICE DANCING, TWIG.” Smirked Black, both his eyes enflamed in purple magic, “LET’S SEE YOU DANCE YOUR WAY OUT OF THESE!”

Black sent even more attacks towards Edge, who blocked and dodged most of them, with only a few hitting him. Before Black could celebrate, Edge was sending waves of his own attacks, many of which hit Black. Both their brothers got involved at the same, mostly supporting their brother in coordinated attacks and dodges, but also using their teleporting albites to stop or attack up close.

As Y/n watched from Sans's grip as the attacks went rapidly from firing shots from a distance, to Edge and Black charged each other, attacking viciously in close hand-to-hand contact.

“RESET!” Y/n yelled at the top of her lungs, pocket watch hot in her hand.

Y/n felt herself shrinking rapidly in Sans’s grip, eventually dropping to the ground as she landed on her feet, tumbling over. She lay dazed in the dirt, completely unprepared for the fall.

“y/n!” Sans cried, falling to his knees and picking her up in both hands, “y/n! i’m so sorry!”

Seeing who had her, her panic flared long enough for her to scrabble back in his cupped hands, pushing her self away, “Sa-sans??”

His expression fell, “i remember ya kid, i remember ya. i-i’m so sorry.”

Searching his expression and seeing no trace of that dark expression she couldn’t forget, Y/n gave a wobbly sigh of relief, collapsing in his hands, “Oh thank god.”

“Actually, you can thank your Creator, but then, I wouldn’t call them a ‘God’. Don’t want to ego inflating.”

Sans and Y/n ignored Ink as Sans stood up, leaning in close to look at her carefully in his hands. “how-how are you holding up, y/n?”

She laughed shakily, touching her sore shoulder, “I never want to do that again!”

Sans smiled weakly back, “yeah, me neither. it-um, it wasn’t that bad when we first met.”

“IT WASN’T MUCH BETTER.” Papyrus admitted as he, and everyone else gathered around her, rubbing his neck.

Her eyes slide over to Stretch and Blueberry, who were both looking very worried, “Welcome back. Where did you guys go?”

“somewhere safe.” Stretch looked up to Edge and Black, “kinda like last time, right?”

“DON’T JOKE ABOUT THIS ASHTRAY!” Edge snapped as he finished slipping backon his shirt, which stayed on his body this time, “OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WAS CERTAINLY A DEADLY CONFRONTATION, BUT YOU HAVE NOT LIVED A DAY IN MY WORLD! MY RESPONSE WAS APPROPRIATE FOR ME HAVING NO CLUE WHAT HAPPENED!”

“NONE OF YOU WOULD SURVIVE IN OUR UNIVERSES.” nodded Black, holding his shirt in his arms, “ASKING QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF ATTACKING GETS MONSTERS KILLED!”

“How did you not kill each other originally?” Y/n found herself asking the question, quietly.

Sans’s hands moved under her and he broke eye contact with her, “we-…well, let’s say, it was a near miss.”

“SANS AND I HAD AT LEAST THE BENEFIT OF BEING IN OUR HOME WHEN ALL OF YOU WERE PULLED IN.” Papyrus said, looking around at everyone, “HERE, I HAD NO CLUE WHERE I WAS, WHY I WAS SUDDENLY SURROUNDED BY MONSTERS THAT LOOKED LIKE ME OR WHY ONE OF THEM WAS TRYING TO STRANGLE ME!”

“why didn’t you use the magic repressor?” Stretch asked Sans, “like last time.”

Sans sighed, “two things; like paps said, i didn’t recognise the area. i had no clue where i was or if the magic repressor was nearby. secondly,” He eyes drifted over to Y/n, “there was a human close by and-and i don’t think i would have used it, even if i knew it was close by.”

“Are you afraid of humans?” Y/n asked, thinking about his reaction to seeing her.

“….yeah, i’ve had a few run-ins with some humans. let’s just say, i’ve learned to always side on the error of caution.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” Ink said, chuckling.

~*~

To various degrees, the skeletons apologised for attacking each other, none of them holding any one of them responsible as, they pointed out, ‘We’ve moved past that already’. All the skeletons had already put their shirts back on and were still sitting outside, all of them munching on sandwiches as a simple lunch. None of them was really talking, each lost in their own thoughts about this entire day, and after seeing how the next thing was called ‘Pets’, all of them agreed that being outside made more sense.

What if they were inside and the house was suddenly flooded with pets?

Y/n was reading over the description for this one, very closely.

Pets; What if the skeletons turned into pets?

“why is it always us?” Red complained as Y/n sat on Sans’s shoulder.

Y/n laughed, closing the now smaller pocket watch and tucking into her shirt, “If you think you’ve got it bad, I’m about to have all of you guys possible turning into pets. Ever been thought of as nothing but a chew toy as dogs and found yourself fleeing by a pack of them?”

Sans chuckled, “you’ve obviously never met the royal guard.”

“WHY PETS?!?” Black cried out in outrage, yet again, “WHY NOT MYTHICAL CREATURES LIKE DRAGONS, OR GARGOYLES, OR-“

“Skeletons?” She asked, cheekily.

Black narrowed his eyes at her.

Ink laughed, helping himself to another sandwich as he lay on the ground, bathing in the sunlight, “Dunno, but it’s sure to be interesting! I’m expecting tummy rubs, and back scratches! Oh!” He rolled over, laying on his stomach, “Y/n riding one of you like a noble steed!”

“couldn’t you just create all of this yourself?” Stretch asked, chewing on a lollypop, “aren’t you meant to be all-powerful?”

“All powerful, creative, but I’m only one guy.” Ink pulled out his phone and went back to texting, “Besides, it’s more fun when even I don’t know how this is going to go!”

Y/n pulled out the pocket watch and counted down the last seconds, “So guys, this is it. Anything anyone wants to say before it’s taken away?”

“just use your best judgement kid.” Sans said, leaning into her briefly, “we all trust ya to use our remaining resets carefully, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to protect yourself, first and foremost.”

The others nodded.

“DON’T PUT ME IN ANY PET OUTFITS!” Black added hastily, leaping to his feet and pacing.

“THAT GOES FOR ME AS WELL!” Edge said, glaring as he lent on the front porch pillar.

Ink’s eyes lit up, “Oh, I’m so doing that!”

Before either one of them could rebuttal, each skeleton disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Y/n fell to the ground, really wishing she had been closer to the ground as she landed. When she stood up, she looked around to see what happened.

Where Sans had been sitting was a short, skeleton dog creature, complete with glowing blue ecto-ears. This Sans leant in towards her, sniffed her, before licking her with a glowing blue tongue, covering her in saliva.

“Sans!” She complained, pocketing the watch and wiping saliva off her as hit clung to her skin.

“BARK, BARK!”

Another dog creature came bounding over, landing on Sans in its attempt to leaning over his head to pin her to the floor, licking her vigorously. What little she saw before a bright orange tongue shot out and started licking her as a small red scarf wrapped around its neck, moving about in the wind that its own tail-waggling was creating.

“Pap-Papyrus!” She scolded, trying to push him off her.

A skeleton cat quickly darted around him, grabbed her in its mouth, before making a running leap for the backyard’s railings. Papyrus came running over, baking like mad as he tried leaping up to get her.

Looking over as she hung in the feline’s mouth, she saw a blue bandana tied around this cat’s neck.

“Hey Blue?” She asked, “Can you understand me? Cause you really shouldn’t have grabbed me like that.”

Blueberry laid down on the railings, placing  Y/n before him, before nuzzling her and keeping her trapped in his front paws. Wishing he had fur but thinking he looked cute anyway, she scratched the underside of his chin, chuckling softly when she heard him purring.

With him distracted, Y/n tried looking around to see what had become of everyone else.

Papyrus was now sitting below them, making pining noses as he started at up them with his orange ecto-ears lay flat on his skull as Sans lay where he was, having fallen asleep. A lanky-looking skeleton cat with deep orange ecto-ears had just finished walking into the sun, before collapsing on the ground, turning onto it’s back so that it could give itself a back rub. Next to the lanky cat (to which she could only assume was Stretch) was an animated large lizard skeleton, already curled up and snoozing as a dark orange tongue flickered occasionally out. A king-cobra skeleton was flaring its red ecto-hood out at a purple bandana wearing large lizard, which was snapping its teeth at the snake, a long purple tongue flicking out every moment or so. Ink was still sitting by the sandwiches, but it appeared that he was either being ignored or was invisible to the guys.

“I’m invisible!” Ink cried out, “General rule, unless I specifically do something, I rather sit back and watch you guys interact.”

Ignoring him, Y/n tried putting names to skeletons.

_‘So, Sans and Papyrus are dogs, Stretch and Blueberry are cats, with Mutt and Black lizards. The king-cobra is probably Edge judging how well it’s getting along with Black….so where’s Red?’_

Right on cue, a red-slited eyed snake came winding its way up the far pole, slithering its way towards them across the railing.

The snake even had a gold fang, grinning as it approached.

Blueberry stood up, hissing, taking swipes at it as he back up. Red wasn’t at all impressed as he came hissing towards them, sounding like he was chuckling in this form. Blueberry was obviously loath to not take Y/n with him, but since he initially took a few steps back, he was too far to grab her again. Eventually, Blueberry tried making a bluff charge at Red, hoping to scare him away. Red responded by flicking his tongue at Blueberry as he finished wrapping her in his body, forming a protective cocoon around her. As Blueberry lay apart, his blue cat ears laying flat against his skull, Red flicked his tongue out at her, tasting her cheek.

“And hello Red.” Y/n said, trying to remember that this was a friend and really hoping she wasn’t about to become someone’s food again, “Do, um, do you know that you  shouldn’t eat me?”

In response, Red nuzzled her before placing his head on top of her, forcing her to crouch as she became completely covered by his mass.

Peering through the maze of his rib bones, she saw that things hadn’t settled between Edge and Black. Sighing, Y/n ran her fingers along Red’s ribs, noting the musical sound they made. Red shuddered around her and it felt like he had tightened his hold on her.

“Come on Red, you need to let me out.” She complained, brushing her fingers along his ribs again.

He only got tighter around her.

“If you don’t let me out, Edge and Black might really hurt each other.”

It seemed like he was going to ignore her and settle for her just playing his ribs like a musical instrument, but he did eventually unwind himself, picking her up in his teeth and dropping her safely on his back, before slithering back along the railing. Riding a snake was weird (that thought along was weird) and it required her to press herself to his back, arms wrapped around his head to keep from sliding up and over.

But still, he was travelling at such a slow pace.

“Red,” she sighed, exasperated, “I know you have to literally crawl everywhere, but there are rocks that move faster than this!”

In response, he slowed down even more and she could feel him chuckling under her body.

“Forget this.” She dropped to the ground, rolling into it before standing. She looked up to see Red watching her, still travelling down the pole and down to the ground. Waving to him over her shoulder, she hurried over to the hissing pair.

Running to stand between the two, hands out stretch, she couldn’t but notice that she was still incredibly small to these guys.  About the size of a mouse; not a comparison she liked right at that moment.

Still, she held their attention long enough to get them to focus on her rather than each other.

“Okay, you two need to separate.”

They didn’t move.

She folded her arms and gave both scowls, “Come on guys.”

They each took their equivalent of a step back. She waited for them to take several more, before she felt relaxed enough to drop her arms with a sigh. Looking around, she saw that Sans had made his way over to the sandwich tray, lazily snapping at them as Papyrus tried getting him to play with him. Red had finished making the world’s slowest journey over to the pair and was swallowing whole cuts of sandwiches, seemingly dislocating his jaw to do so.

Stretch and Mutt were still bathing in the sun, with Stretch seeming haven fallen asleep on his back, and Blueberry had come over to Black by this point, trying to playfully scratch him before leaping back, crouching low as his tail flickered. Black was glaring at Blueberry as his long tongue kept flicking out, snapping at the air as he kept missing  Blueberry’s paw. Eventually, Blueberry was able to bait Black enough that Black began chasing him around the yard, with Blueberry leaping as he ran.

Edge, now no longer distracted by Black, came slithering over to her, his hood settling as he stared down at her.

She placed her hand gently on one of his ribs, looking up into his red, slited eyes, “Hey Edge. Itsssss nicccccccce to seeeeeee you.”

His tongue flickered out in annoyance, and she couldn’t but help and laugh. That is, until she felt Edge wrapping around her body too. Alarmed, she quickly saw that Edge had just wrapped his body around her as his head sat up tall, keeping a lookout.

“I didn’t realise that snakes like wrapping themselves around things like this.” Y/n said as she tried to climb out.

Edge was having none of that as his boney snout came back down, pushing her back in, before going back to keep an eye on the area.

“Come on Edge! Let me go, please?”

He ignored her.

Sighing, Y/n was at least happy to see that everyone was more or less settling in (even if she feared that Black would try to hurt Blueberry once he caught him.) With nothing better to do, she pulled out the pocket watch and saw that they had nearly used up their time, and that the next change was going to be called ‘Room Makeover’.

“That one’s kind of wasted, but then, I did say that I’d let the chips fall they will and not influence too much on what ideas were pulled out of The Box.”

Y/n looked away from the pocket watch to look over at a bitty-sized Ink, who was lounging on Edge’s ribs.

“Let me guess, you can be small because you’re all powerful?”

Ink chuckled, “A-yep.”

Rolling her eyes, she looked back to the pocket watch, “And what exactly is suppose to happen?”

Ink shrugged, “All the guys’ room are about to get a remodelled into whatever annoys them the most.” He patted Edge’s side, who seemed to finally notice he had more bitties in his coils than he thought, “Edgy boy here is going to get pink and butterflies everywhere.”

“He’s not going to care about that as he is now.” Y/n said as Edge quickly unravelled himself and hissed threateningly at Ink, “Although, he might just eat you as you are now.”

“He might care, depending on what’s pulled out after this one.” Ink said as the hour ticked over and nothing outside changed, “But we won’t know what that is until the time is closer.”

“Yeah, well if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll leave Edge alone with you, seeing as how I’m pretty sure he knows his rooms been tampered with and you’re a key person to blame for that.”

“Hey, don’t blame me!” Ink cried out, taking steps back as Edge advanced on him, “Blame the Readers!”

Edge took a couple snaps at him, before Ink was forced to teleport away, leaving Edge looking rather smug with himself.

Y/n, meanwhile, had finished making her way over to the food and nap pile.

“Sans,” she playfully scolded as  she patted his muzzle, “Just how many of these  sandwiches did you eat?”

Sans leaned his head into her pats, his eyes closed sleepily.

Giggling that she was literally patting her friends like a pet, she looked over to see Red passed out on the tray, a sandwich right in front of his snout that his flicking tongue kept licking it, even in sleep.

She felt a bony tail touch and wrap around her leg, and she followed it to Stretch, who had cracked an eye open as his orange slited eye peering at her.

“How much in control of that tail are you Stretch?” She asked, noticing it kept trailing up and bone her leg, causing her skin to have goosebumps crawling over it.

Stretch the cat, actually winked.

With a final pat to Sans, she made her way over to Stretch, crouching to peer into his eye, “Well, you have my- Hey!”

Stretch rolled over then, his paws grabbing her as he lay on top of her, his pleased purring vibrating her back.

“Stretch!” She playfully complained.

Stretch only responded by nuzzling her more.

Looking over, she struggled to free an arm and tried reaching out to the dozing Mutt. “Mutt!" she called out, "can I please get a hand here?”

Mutt cracked an eye open, blinking both sets of eyelids slowly, before reaching a hand out to her.

It didn’t meet her halfway.

“Try getting up.” 

His claw inched closer to her, but now she was certainly his lizard skull was smirking as his one gold fang glittered in the sun.

She shrugged, “Okay you two. I tried being fair and give you a chance to do the right thing, but you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves for this.”

Taking a deep breath, she called out, “Papyrus!!”

Papyrus, who had wandered off to explore the garden, perked up at hearing his name called.  Barking madly, he came charging over, barling into Mutt and Stretch, who both hissed in a complaint as they were pushed out of the way. Y/n, meanwhile, was now pinned under Papyrus ’s licking face.

“Pap-blah!” She tried to cry out, only to get a tongue full of Papyrus’s tongue. Flipping back onto her back, she instead tried to make a break for it, crawling towards freedom and a tongue-free space.

Instead, Papyrus lept over her body, coming to lay on the ground right in front of her as his tail wagged high into the air.

“You want to play that much?” She asked, standing up and wiping saliva once again from her face.

“BARK!” Came his happily reply.

She grinned, “Then saddle up!”

~*~

Y/n lost track of time as she rode on Papyrus back, laughing as she tried from getting bucked off. It was especially fun when Papyrus began playing with Blueberry, who had long been abandoned by a sulking Black. Blueberry would try to make a leap for her on Papyrus back, who would jump out of the way, running once again with Blueberry hot on his tail.

It was during a particular near miss from Blueberry that she felt a surge coming from her chest and she impulsively held her hand out, bracing for Blueberry’s impact.

Only it never came.

Cracking open an eye, she was surprised to see Blueberry surrounded in a glow of her favourite colour, Blueberry himself looking rather shocked and surprised in his cat form.

“Wh-what’s happening?” she asked, looking around with her hand still up.

Even Papyrus came to stop, looking up in surprised as Blueberry, who struggled to get free.

When Y/n put her hand down to fetch out the watch, Blueberry was lowered to the ground as well, who then made a dash for it, running towards Stretch. Pulling out the watch, Y/n read;

Magic Powers; What if Y/n had magical powers?

“Oh hell yes!” She cried out, putting away the watch, “Finally! Something fun!”

“I take insult at that.” Ink said, looking up from his texting

Y/n tried grabbing him, trying to tap into that feeling of warmth and power that had been in her chest before. Only for Ink to remain in the grass, waggling a finger at her.

“Oh no, can't have you using your powers on me when it’s far more interesting to see you use it on the canon characters.”

She shrugged, “Figured it was a worth a shot.” She climbed over to rest on top of Papyrus’s head, “Check it out Paps! Powers!”

She jumped off his head, figuring that if she grabbed her shoes, she’d have a great pair of ‘rocket’ boots she could actually fly around in.

As she felt something inside her reach out and grab her shoes, she felt her decent stop in mid-air. Before she had a chance to celebrate, her weight kept her body moving forward, leaving her hanging from her feet in mid-air. Peering at the ground below her, she looked back at Papyrus, who had cocked his head to the side.

“Hee, um…think you can catch me without hands?”

She really didn’t want to land on her neck.

Papyrus swung his back around, moving it so she could reach out and grab his back. Once she was holding on, Y/n tentatively released the magic as the rest of her body came crashing down. Wincing in slight pain and really wishing that these guys had been the type of pets with fur, again, Y/n sat up, looking pleased with herself.

Patting Papyrus’s side, she pointed over to where everyone else seemed to have gathered, around the sandwich tray, “Let’s go and show everyone else!”

~*~

“Sure wish you guys could speak right about know.” Y/n said as she sat between Sans and Stretch, throwing the stick for Papyrus to fetch using her magic yet again.

Showing the guys her new abilities hadn’t been as exciting as it should have been. They were all shocked to see her lifting the tray (none more so than Red, who had woken up with a hiss as his sleeping body was lifted high into the air), but with no way to express themselves beyond tone and a few looks, she didn’t get much out of having them see what she could do. They had all sat around and watched her play around with her new abilities, testing her ability to control things in mid-air as she sat upon them and lifting various objects of various sides, but even that seemed to get old for them.

 _‘Or maybe it’s their pet-brains.’_ She thought, looking around to see the guys were doing their own thing as she sat doing hers.

Black had gone wandering towards the pound, with Mutt actually getting up to following him from a distance. When it became obvious that she was more interested in playing with magic, Blueberry had climbed the apple tree, exploring its many branches. Edge had slithered over to the garden and appeared to be having fun stalking something in there while Red had passed out once again, apparently very tired after eating whole sandwiches. Sans and Stretch had sat on either side of her, watching her testing the boundaries of her magic....or maybe just looking for an excuse not to travel far.

Hearing Y/n complain about their lack of speech, both Sans and Stretch immediately started barking and meowing, yapping on like they were actually talking but she just didn’t speak their language.

Covering her ears as she rolled her eyes, she looked back at Ink, “Tell me again, how smart are these guys?”

Ink grinned, “Not very, seeing as how they’re trying to annoy a human with magic powers.”

“Forget this.” she said as Papyrus came back with the stick, waggling his tail as he dropped it yet again at her feet, “If I just found out I’m a wizard, then I’m going to wizard school.”

Mounting the stick as if it was a broom, Y/n gave a cry of “Up!” and felt the stick lift up under her. Both Sans and Stretch raised their heads to watch her rasing higher from the ground while Papyrus barked madly under her.

Laughing, she called out, “Catch me if you can!” and zoomed off around the backyard. The ‘broomstick’ was a much smoother ride than having Papyrus as a steed, and felt so exhilarating, knowing she was in full control of where she went, rather than just a passenger.

She hadn’t been playing long with Papyrus the best game of tag that had ever been played when her vision just went out.

Crying out in fear and alarm, Y/n let go of the stick by accident and plunged to the ground at a high speed.

*Splash!*

Blind, she felt herself hitting the water, the taste of fish and pond scum clueing her in she had landed in the pond. Floundering, she struggled to swim as fear made her take in a lot of water before she tried swimming in one direction.

 _‘Damn it! I forgot to keep track of time!’_ she cursed herself, stupidly, just grateful she had landed in water rather than the ground.

Something jumped into the pond with her as she heard another splash before being pound by its rippled. Something with very many sharp teeth snapped around her head and upper body and lifted her up, before it kept swimming forward.

Y/n began screaming, struggling to get free and trying desperately to use her magic to lift the creature away from her, but everything she tried only made it sink its teeth deeper into her, crushing her chest.

“PAPYRUS!! ANYONE!! HELP ME!!”

The creature that had her shook its head, making its teeth sink deeper into her flesh. A tongue slithered over her body, tasting the minor scratch marks as, whatever it was, reached land. The moment her feet were out in the open air, she was dropped.

Blindly, she scurried away, fumbling with her arms open as she tried to run away. Something soild hit her back and she was pushed to the ground, long, sharp-clawed paw pinning her to the ground.

“Help!!” she screamed, struggling to push whatever it was that had her off.

She felt the creature lean in, but rather than going in for the kill as she expected, she felt it nuzzling her; something that was hard with what felt like material touching the back of her neck.

“B-Black?” She called out unsure, hoping in spite of herself.

A forked tongue flickered out, running across her cheek as the paw eased up on her back.

Y/n gave a shuddering sigh of relief, rubbing her eyes hurriedly as hope made her fully realise how much she actually thought she was about to die.

Still very much shaken, she continued to speak to whom she could only assume was Black, “Black, I can’t see. I need your help to get me to the others. Please.”

The paw pushing her down moved away and Y/n struggled to raise, fumbling as she was without her sight. Waving her arms, she eventually made contact with Black, tracing his lizard skull and coming at last to his scarf, which she held onto tightly.

“Alright Black. I’m going to assume you’re okay with me climbing your back. And even if you’re not, I still going to do that as I really don’t want to be left alone right now.”

Black didn’t respond, or at least, gave any indication she could tell.

She struggled to pull herself up onto the skeleton's back for a while, before something bit the back of her shirt and lifted her up. Unable to tell who it was, Y/n reached out blindly and felt the lizard skull before it had a chance to move away once she was up securely. Patting this skull, she worked her way down to its neck, surprised to feel no scarf there.

“Mutt?”

A forked tongue hit her nose, so she took that to mean yes.

Giving this lizard a final pat, she moved back into position, laying flat on Black’s back as she grabbed his bandana with both hands.

“Thanks, guys.” she took a deep breath, “Now, let’s hope this is just another of Ink’s tricks and not something permanent.”

~*~

Turns out it was just Ink and his stupid watch, and Y/n never thought she would be so happy to hear that. He hadn’t wanted to let her know in the first place, saying that “Part of the fun with a character losing their senses is their ability to overcome them and adapt.” but when she had felt the others gather near her, each making threatening noises towards the direction of Ink’s voice was coming from, he had relented and told her.

Turns out it was; What happened if Y/n lost her senses?

“It’s only amazing luck (or purposeful nudging by yours truly) that you lost your sight.” Ink insisted, “You could have easily lost the sense of touch, sound, smell or taste.”

Y/n sighed, resting as she was on Black’s back still. She was really tempted to use a Reset and have this over done with, but knowing that would only leave her with just one Reset left, she pushed temptation aside and decided to stick this out as long as she could.

It was boring to sit and do nothing, with no other ability than to guess what was happening around you using a mash-up of your other senses. What quickly became apparent to Y/n was just how much her other sense relied upon sight to make full sense of.

For example, while all the guys had quickly gathered around her and been supportive when Ink had been difficult, as time wore on, Papyrus and Blueberry had run off, bringing back what she could only guess where flowers as they made multiple trips. It was frustrating to hear them moving about and only guessing they were somewhere in the yard because that was an assumption she was making.

At least the other’s were still by her side.

She thought Edge might be pacing backwards and forward on the ground in front of her, but he and Red moved so quietly, she couldn’t say for sure. Tracing along the bones on Black’s back revealed that he was surrounded and pressed in by multiple skeletons, but without sight, the only one for sure she knew was here was Black, due to his distinctive bandana.

Who knew if that rib belonged to a dog, cat, snake, lizard, or whatever another skeleton animal that might have popped up because Ink was bored?

She felt the sun begin to set on her skin, wondering at what point she should suggest everyone go inside for the night.

Ink groaned again somewhere away from her, “Argh! It’s so boring typing up a story with no description of sight!”

“Guess you should have thought about that before you took mine.” She growled back, angry that he had the nerve to be bored!

“I expected them to help guide you around the place! You know, be your seeing eye pets?”

“And where would I need to go? I’m not going to wander around the backyard, just so I can have them guide me for your amusement.”

Ink groaned again, before it sounded like he threw himself back into the ground.

There was a moment of peaceful silence before Y/n felt something changed.

“Ink?” She called out, unnerved.

“It’s just the next change happening.” Ink replied, still bored, “Made even duller because you can’t see it.”

“What-?”

She never got a chance to finish her question, because the sound of Papyrus rapidly barking in a panic scared the question clear out of her mind.

“Papyrus?!”

Papyrus’s barking came rushing towards her, till he was barking over and over again in her face.

Clasping her hands over her ears, she cried out, “Papyrus! Stop barking!!”

He didn’t stop barking, and it was only when she, at last, placed her hands on what felt like his snout did he settle, lowering his head in front of her.

“What’s happening Ink?!” she demanded.

Ink paused and she could hear the sound of his phone being tapped by a bony finger, “What happens if all the guys lose their senses?”

“Oh no.” Y/n breathed.

Without any ability to see, Y/n felt the mass of skeletal animals around her begin to shift, felt them growing unease and into alarmed. A series of hissing and growls surrounded her and she felt Black shift under her, unresponsive to her tugging hard at his bandana.

“Black?” She called out, hoping she could settle him at least.

She felt him move under her, probably turning around to look at her, but something knocked her off, leaving her once again, fumbling in the grass. A paw hand was trying to flip her over, as Papyrus’s keening noses hit her. Patting the nose, she stood up, trying to reach out and touch the others.

“Guys. Listen to me; you’ve lost one of your senses.” she said, as she moved about, patting each bone she could feel, “Just stay calm and don’t freak out, okay?”

She had no idea if they could hear or fully understand them, but the sound of a splash coming from the pool, followed by Blueberry’s pitiful meowing and frantic splashing made it a moot point anyway.

Quickly grabbing the watch, Y/n cried out, “Reset!” and sight was restored to her.

Looking towards the pool, she watched as Blueberry’s head disappeared under the water as he quickly sank to the bottom.

“Blue!” Y/n cried, already running to it.

Stretch disappeared from the mass of skeletal limbs that were gathered in a pile behind her, appearing by the pool’s edge as he crouched by the water’s edge, plunging his hand into the water.

Blueberry was pulled out by the scruff of his shirt, both his eyes enflamed in blue magic that seemed to encase his bones. Stretch finished pulling him out, dragging him off to the side and leaning over him to examine him as Y/n kept running towards them.

“bro??” Stretch asked frantically.

Blueberry coughed rapidly, spitting mouthfuls of water out with every cough. Unable to responded, he patted his brother’s arm as he struggled to breathe.

“Turn him on his side!” Y/n called out, running across the pool’s pavement as she neared them.

Stretch looked away from her rushing towards him and did as she said, easing his brother onto his side. Blueberry immediately started breathing easier in amidst all his coughing and was soon able to ease himself up with his brother’s support.

“I-I COULDN’T FEEL ANYTHING!" He exclaimed as fear lingered in his eyes, "I-I THOUGHT SOMETHING WAS WRONG, SO I WENT TO THE POOL TO SEE IF I COULD FEEL IT, BUT-BUT I COULDN’T FEEL MY LEGS AS I RAN AND TUMBLED IN!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Stretch hugged Blueberry to him as Y/n climbed up Blueberry's shoulder, hugging the side of his head.

~*~

Without much debate, everyone headed inside after that, sitting around in the living room to spend what time they had as normal before things got weird once again.

“I COULDN’T EVEN HEAR MYSELF BARKING!” Papyrus exclaimed, looking around at everyone else as he sat on the floor, beside a freshly changed Blueberry, who was bundled up in a blanket at his brother's insistence.

“I LOST MY SENSE OF TASTE, AND IT WAS LIKE I LOST MY ABILITY TO SEE AS WELL.” Edge was saying as he leaned against a nearby wall.

“Sounds like you guys were changed beyond just your shapes.” Y/n looked around, “I never did get an answer about how much you could understand me or how much you knew.”

“it was like our minds have been altered, but not so much that we couldn’t understand you or recognise each other’s scents.” explained Sans.

“BUT BEING AN ANIMAL COMPLETELY CHANGED MY MOTIVATIONS!” Blueberry said, looking at her, “ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS PLAY AND HAVE YOU ALL TO MYSELF Y/N.”

Ink laughed, “And how is that different now?”

Blueberry blushed, “WELL-WELL I LIKE TO THINK I DON’T JUST GRAB HER FROM OTHER PEOPLE.”

He was met with everyone giving him deadpan looks.

“WHAT?”

Sans sighed, looking uneasy, “so, two resets down. one left.”

“I’m not sorry that I used it when I did.” Y/n replied, settling deeper into her pillow that sat on the coffee table, pulling her knees in.

Sans shook his head, “no, you made the right call, certainly, i guess i’m just worried about what the rest of the night is going to be like.”

“Well, for starters, none of you are sleeping,” Ink grinned, “I’m not spending my time typing in a sleeping/ settling in for the night scene, so I reckon I’ll ignore that part in light of keeping the day going continuously.”

“we sure that ink puddle is drying up?” Red growled, eyeing Ink distastefully.

Stretch nodded, “yep. we’re close to halfway done.”

Everyone groaned.

“Next one shouldn’t be too bad.” Y/n said, pulling out the watch and reading aloud the description, “What if the guys were all small?” she looked up, “Sounds like you guys will get to know what it’s like to be me.”

“rather have ya just be big again y/n,” Red said, leaning forward, “but if it means i get ter hug ya again like earlier, then i guess being small aint’ so bad.”

Stretch chuckled, “so, does this mean i’ll never have to hear you shorties complaining about how i’m ‘too tall’?”

“that’d make for a nice change.” agreed Mutt with a smirk.

Y/n chuckled, even as all the shorter skeletons gave both grinning skeletons unamused looks.

She stood up, looking down as the last seconds ticked down, “So, here’s to hoping this is exactly what we think it is. The last thing I want to happen is that you guys suddenly grow and tear this house apart.”

“IF YOU WEREN’T CRUSHED IN THE PROCESS.” Black said, unconsciously moving away from her.

The final seconds ticked over and Y/n looked up and watched as all of the guys rapidly shrank to the size of bitties. Pocketing the watch and walking over, she peered of the table’s edge and grinned at Blueberry and Papyrus as they struggled to move around Blueberry’s blanket.

“Well, at least your clothes shrank with you.” she pointed out, smiling.

“you’re not the only one kid.” She turned to see Sans, Stretch, Red, Mutt, and Black standing behind her, none of them looking happy with this change.

“THINGS LOOKS DIFFERENT FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE.” Huffed Black, who quickly folded his arms, "I DON’T LIKE IT!”

“need any help bro?” Stretch called down towards Blueberry.

Blueberry shook his head and made his way towards them with Papyrus, preparing to climb up, “no, i’ve got this!”

Nodding, Stretch turned away from him to grin at Y/n. “hey there short stuff.”

She laughed, “speak for yourself!”

“think i was.” He looked around the room, noting all the changes, “things are sure different down here.”

“Tell me about it,” she grinned as she looked around the table, “But at least you don’t have to look up all of your noses like I do all the time.”

All of them covered their nose holes unconsciously, which only made Y/n laugh again.

Papyrus and Blueberry soon came into view as they pulled themselves up onto the table, looking around at the living room in wonder.

“WOWIE! THINGS ARE SURE DIFFERENT NOW!” Papyrus exclaimed, wandering around the table.

“AND THIS PILLOW IS EXTRA SOFT!” Blueberry said, already bouncing around on it.

“Yeah, there are some advantages.” Y/n admitted, glad to see the guys seeing things from her perspective, but still feeling like they didn’t one-hundred per cent understand the challenges she faced.

“THIS FLOOR IS DISGUSTING!” Came Edge’s enraged voice, somewhere below them, “WHO EVER'S TURNS IT WAS TO VACUUM DID A LOUSY JOB!”

While Stretch shrugged, Y/n looked around at all the guys, “I guess I’ve gotten used to being carried around that it’s been a while since I had to deal with stuff like dirty floors.”

“it’s not that bad.” Stretch tried defending himself, only for Edge to scoff as he finished pulling himself up onto the table.

As he stood up, dusting himself down, Edge scolded, “IT IS! JUST BECAUSE YOUR HEIGHT IS SUPERIOR TO ALMOST EVERYONE HERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR A POOR JOB AT CLEANING THE FLOORS!”

Red came up to her then, grinning as he slung a hand around her waist, “so, mind showing us how the bitty half live?”

~*~

In truth, she had fun showing all the guys the cool things that only happened when you were a small person in a big world. She showed them how she used the vents to travel, easily scaling the metal walls where her human skin allowed her some traction while Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge, and Black struggled to climb just one level. Sans, Stretch, Red, and Mutt cheated, grinning down at her as she climbed up, and there was some resentment on her part when Sans offered his hand to pull her up as she neared the top.

After all, she couldn’t teleport as they could, and every time she needed to carry things around the house, it meant she had to find a way to do it herself, without magic.

A quick tour of her new house (where Papyrus and Blueberry marvelled aloud at their own impressive skills, Edge and Black merely criticised their skills, and everyone else checked to make sure things were still working fine, noticing ideas and improvements to her as they walked from room to to), then a tour of her old house in the attic where she showed them how she had used the various boxes and items she had scavenged to keep the place hidden while comfortable.

They had all agreed her new house was vastly superior, but she did blush pleasantly when they complimented her skill to do what she had, without magic or the aide of someone big.

As the time neared another change, Y/n warned everyone that the next one said, “What if Y/n was big?” and everyone thought that might mean a return to her being normal sized.

“What if it means I grow to be a giant?” she asked, looking around at everyone as they finished exploring the attic and gathered in to discuss the impending change.

“we can always go outside?” suggested Stretch, shrugging.

“I don’t know,” she looked out to the attic window, noting how dark it was getting outside, “The last thing you want to do when you’re small is walking across the ground at night. It takes ages and let me assure everyone here that being eating is not fun at all.”

“depends how it’s done.” Red purred, licking his teeth.

Edge smacked the back of his brother’s head, before continuing like he hadn’t heard what his brother had just said, “IT MAKES SENSE FOR US TO BE OUTSIDE WHILE WE WAIT TO SEE EXACTLY HOW BIG YOU’LL BECOME, BUT WE HAVE THE POWER TO TELEPORT, SO GETTING BACK SHOULDN’T BE A CONCERN.”

“Right.” she said, reminded once again that, even small, they had more advantages than she did. Trying to brighten herself up, she pulled off her backpack and fetched out her glider, “Anyone want to try using this thing?”

“I REMEMBER THIS WHEN WE PLAYED WITH OUR ACTION FIGURES!” Papyrus cried, taking it from her hands, “IT LOOKED LIKE A LOT OF FUN!”

“It is.” she agreed, nodding, “But it is dangerous. Not to mention that you guys have completely spoiled me and that I haven’t used it in such a long time.”

Sans looked nervous, “hee, um….you-you sure you want us using it tonight? aren’t you coming close up to the time when you’re expecting to change.”

She took the glider from Papyrus hands, brushing it fondly, “Look, you guys are seeing things from my perspective, which is great and all, but it’s the little things that made my life….difficult. Things that I needed to find solutions to. Like, clean water and travelling over large distances that didn’t take me hours.” She looked up at them, “It would really mean a lot to be if you did this one thing, without magic. You know, so you can see for yourselves what I have to go through?”

She glanced around at all of the skeletons, who looked uneasy.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea!” cried out Ink, who was also smalling and just suddenly appearing out of thin air, sitting on a box off to the side, “And I’ll volunteer my services to carry the glider back and forwards!”

“where would we even be landing?” Sans asked, sinking deeper in his jacket.

“The roof’s always pretty safe…or at least, we’ll see anything creeping towards us pretty easily from up there.”

“honey, how do you plan to get down if you do change up there, assuming you don’t do that giant thing and crush the workshop?” Stretch asked, leaning back.

She waved him off, “I jump down that distance all the time. I’ll be fine. Besides,” she looked around at them, “When you guys changed, it wasn’t instantaneous, so I think I’ll have long enough to make a leap for it.”

“THAT’S NOT MUCH OF A PLAN.” Black pointed out.

She shrugged, before holding out the glider, “So, who wants to go first?”

Blueberry took a step forward, looking apprehensive, “UM…I WILL?”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

Blueberry looked towards the window as he clasped his hands together, “I’VE, UM, I’VE NEVER FLOWN BEFORE.”

“I’ll think you’ll like this.” She grinned, offering her hand, “Want to go as a team or should I go first to show you how it’s done?”

~*~

Turns out he really wanted to do this as a team, if his eyes shifting into stars meant anything. The group made their way relatively quickly up to the attic window facing the backyard, standing on the sill, as a group, as the night sky breeze blew in the right direction and the full moon shone on brightly.

Ink opened his mouth to say something, but Y/n beat him to it, “Let me guess, you’re going to say something along the lines of how it was you who tonight’s conditions perfect.”

Ink took the large paintbrush from his back, twirling it impressively before posing with it, looking heroic and cool and oh so super talented, “Hee, well, I am pretty great. Besides,” he gestured around to the group at large, “I did this for you guys.”

She just couldn’t get over this guy. He was as almost indecipherable as his always changing eyes.

Glancing to Blueberry next to her, she watched how he edged himself forward enough to look over the sill, down at the dark ground below.

“Still wanting to do this, Blue?”

Blueberry gulped, before nodding, moving to wrap his arms around her neck.

Holding the glider ready, she turned to the others, “Look, I know I’ve kind of guilt-tripped you guys into doing this, but I want to remind you of a few things; Firstly, you’re bitties now. That should mean you can fall from what looks like really high places and be fine. I know I’ve fallen from this houses’ roof at least twice, and while it doesn’t tickle, I was able to walk away from it.”

“THAT’S NOT REALLY REASSURING.” Edge growled, his arms firmly folded across his chest.

“Then how about the fact that we’ve got Monster Candy in the house and a quick fix isn’t that far away?”

When no one looked happier, she sighed, dropping the glider off to the side, “Look, the last thing is that you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I’ll understand. I’ll be disappointed I won’t lie, but not with you. Just sad that I won’t get to see you guys gliding for the first time….but I’d rather you all be comfortable and safe than doing something you really don’t want to.”

Each of them seemed to be thinking that over as they visibly relaxed. With nothing left to say, she turned to look at Blueberry still hanging on her back, “Still willing to give this a go, Blue?”

His arms tightened around her neck, “LET’S DO THIS!”

Grinning, Y/n ran and lept for the window, her whoops drowned out by Blueberry’s scream as they headed towards the ground. Then, the wind filled the glider and they soared, drifting on the breeze. Blueberry had wrapped both of his legs around her hips by this point as he pressed his face into her neck. Chuckling, she sighed as the soft wind carried her, “Come on Blue. Closing your eyes won’t make the danger pass. Have a look.”

She felt his head move away from her head, turning to look below.

“OH WOWIE! WE’RE REALLY HIGH, AREN’T WE??”

She laughed softly, angling the gluier down to the roof, “Not that high. Don’t worry, we’re nearly there. Brace yourself.”

Aiming for the roof of the workshop, Y/n managed to hit it with both feet as she ran for a bit, slowing herself down to a smooth stop.

“Perfect landing!” Ink cried, holding up a ten-score sheet high in the air.

She shrugged as she handed over her glider, “It was pretty good, but then again, good winds always make a difference, don’t they?”

Ink grinned as he took the glider, winking before he vanished.

Chuckling softly, Y/n felt the weight on her back shift and remembered she had a passenger.

“Forgot how light you guys are. Are you planning to come off any time soon?”

The arms around her neck tightened slightly, “…AND WHAT IF I SAID NO?”

“Then I guess I’ll have a new backpack.” she laughed, “But it also means I won’t ever get to see your face again.”

Sigh, Blueberry dropped to the ground, looking slightly unsteadily on his feet.

“THAT-THAT WASN’T AS BAD AS I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE.” His eyes lit up, “THAT WAS ACTUALLY FUN!” 

“Told you.” she beamed, looking back up to the attic, “Who do you think will go next?”

“PROBABLY PAPYRUS.” Blueberry said, moving forward, “AH, SEE?! YOU CAN SEE HIS SCARF!” Blueberry cupped his hands, yelling up to him “COME ON PAPYRUS! YOU CAN DO IT!”

“I KNOW!” He yelled back, “FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!”

With that, Papyrus appeared to make a running leap for it, his long legs quickly curling up as the glider wobbled unsteadily in his grasp. Y/n watched as the glider hung too long in the air, watched how Papyrus needed to start angling it down at the roof or else he would land somewhere in the woods behind them. An idea popped into her mind and she called out, moving quickly into the centre of the roof, “Papyrus! Look at me! Aim for me!”

She threw her arms open, “I’ll catch you! You’ve’ got this!”

Papyrus legs uncurled from his body as his eye-lights focused on her instead. Proudly, she watched how, as Papyrus attention focused on her, he automatically shifted his weight and hold on the glider to angle towards her. When he landed, he ran straight into Y/n’s arms, who was laughing in delight as she caught him and helped him to a quick stop.

Hearing her laugh brought Papyrus back into his surroundings, where suddenly his eyes lit up and he lifted her high, beaming into her equally beaming face, “Y/N! DID YOU SEE ME?! I FLEW!! I ACTUALLY FLEW!!”

“I did!” She hugged him, “You were so cool! How did you find it?!”

“TERRIFYING!” He hugged her tighter, “BUT SO AMAZING AT THE SAME TIME! YOU USE TO FLY LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME??”

“Yep!”

~*~

With Papyrus and Blueberry shouting out encouragements, Y/n met each skeleton as they each had their turn with the glider. Black had gone next, adamantly denying that the scream that they had all heard had come from him. When he had landed in Y/n’s arms, it had taken him several shakes from her to get him to unwind his arms from her, blushing purple as he shoved the glider in Ink’s hands before walking away. When Edge had landed, he had overshot her and had landed so wobbly with the glider, Y/n thought for sure he must have panicked as he neared the landing. Rushing over to him, she helped him up, where he actually kept his hand on her shoulder for a long moment, before walking away without another glace.

There had been a pause at this point as Y/n, Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge, and Black took bets amongst themselves to see who would go next. Much to Blueberry’s smugness, it was Stretch who came next, actually using both hands for a change as he hung for the glider. He had stumbled into Y/n’s arms as he landed, where he predictably made a pun about ‘falling for her.’ Red was up next, yelling the entire way. He swore furiously that it was a war cry of incredible manliness, but judging by all the red blush, he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone. Sans came down with a lot of grace and control, actually doing his own little flair in front of Y/n that killed the momentum for him and allowed him to land even smoother that she had ever been able to pull off. He fervently denied cheating or the use of magic (much to everyone's narrowed look of suspicion) but since, as he pointed out, the glider hadn’t been bathed in magic, they had to take his word.

There was, however, no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mutt had used magic. He came down last, riding on top of the glider like it was a skateboard or something, cutting through the air as he made his way to a clean stop,  right in front to Y/n. Then he had calmly picked up and handed over the glider, grinning slightly as he made his way over to his cross brother.

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU FEEL IT NECESSARY TO MAKE A SPECTACLE OF YOURSELF?!”

He shrugged as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.

Putting away the glider and pulling out the pocket watch, she moved back to the others as she watched her last-minute start counting down.

“So, I guess, assuming it’s not the giant thing, I’ll be big while you guys are small.” She looked up, “This is going to be interesting.”

Sans nodded, “certainly a first, but then again, this day has been nothing but firsts.”

Everyone quickly nodded their heads too.

“Right, so I’m going to get off the roof now,” Looking over her shoulder, she jumped as she called out, “Wish me luck, guys!”

Landing on the ground was still an unpleasant experience, and she felt the pain travel through her all of her leg joints. Still, she was able to stand, wincing only slightly in pain.

“YOU OKAY Y/N??” Papyrus called out as all the skeletons peered down at her, looking over the workshop’s gutter.

She waved, calling up, “Yeah.”

“have you thought about what happens if your clothes don’t grow with you?” Red asked, winking.

She flipped him off, before looking up to Ink, who was back to his regular size and on the ground with her.

He shrugged with both hands, “I dunno. I guess it would be interesting to see.”

“I don’t want interesting,” Y/n said as she suddenly grew tall, returning to her normal size once again, “I want my dignity.”

“Pfft, dignity’s overrated.”

Presently, it seemed her clothes once again grew with her, allowing her a chance to sigh in relief, before looking back up to the guys.

“Man, you guys look so small all the way up there!” she grinned.

“CAN-CAN YOU CARRY US BACK INTO THE HOUSE?” Papyrus asked, shyly.

She held out her arms, “Sure. Hop on!”

She hadn’t been expecting for the collective boney bodies of all the guys making a leap for her arms, but between her arms and their own desire to not fall, they managed to cling to her in some manner, gather in a bitty pile in her arms.

aAh,” Red sighed as he nuzzled her chest, “i fell and landed in heaven.”

“You do anything weird or creepy and I’ll start doing the same Red.” she warned, “I’m sure I can pass an hour playing dress-ups with my new ‘dolls’.”

“at least i’m honest about it,” Red smirked as he looked along the line on skeletons, “you've gone quite Blue.”

“I’M QUITE BECAUSE I JUMPED THE WRONG WAY!” Blueberry complained, his voice coming from somewhere under her arm as his legs kicked uselessly in the air.

“then which sans am i looking at who’s not bothering to look at me because they got primo spot?” Red asked.

Sans chuckled and he turned around slightly to grin at Red, winking.

“I DEMAND BETTER ARRANGEMENTS!” Black huffed, as he was squashed between Y/n’s arms and another skeleton, “VANILLA, TRADE PLACES WITH ME!”

“and how exactly do you want me to do that without risking y/n dropping everyone?”

“FIND A WAY!”

“Guys!” she sighed as she made her way towards the back door, “We’re nearly there. Can we all just bear with it, please?”

“YOU DON’T HEAR US COMPLAINING ABOUT IT, DO YOU?” Snapped Edge, bearly tolerating both his position on Y/n’s arms, being carried in the first place, and being pressed this tightly to people he barely tolerated.

“I DON’T THINK MUTT TALKS THAT MUCH, EVEN WHEN HE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY,” Papyrus pointed out, “AND STRETCH MIGHT ACTUALLY BE ASLEEP.”

“just resting my eyes paps.” Stretch sighed, resting between her cleavage, “just resting my eyes.”

Y/n dropped them quickly onto the coffee table the moment she felt the distance was low enough to do so. Blushing furiously, she dropped to the couch and buried her face in her hands, “Right! I didn’t think that one through!”

She felt a presence blip onto her shoulder, followed by a small, bony hand patting her cheek.

Sans’s voice chuckled by her cheek, “hey now. we, um, well, we appreciate the lift y/n.”

Another presence blipped onto her hip nuzzling her waist, “yeah, i really appreciate that.” Purred Red’s voice.

She picked him up by his jacket and left him twirling in the wind, glaring at him. “Do I need to put you in a time out?”

“punishing games already babydoll?” Red laughed, “i like it.”

Groaning, she dropped him onto the couch before reburying her face.

Red picked himself up as the other made their way over to her, patting her softly, “oh come on babydoll, you know i’m just teasing yea, right?”

“Yes, I may or may not have noticed you do like teasing me from time to time.” she glared playfully at him, causing him to laugh.

“oh, don’t even pretend you don’t do the exact same thing.”

“I guess,” she sat back, watching Papyrus and Blueberry crawling over her legs, finding a nice spot to sit, “but if we can dial it back a bit? That’d be great.”

“YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE STICKING PERVERTED SKELETONS IN BETWEEN YOUR BOOBS!” Black snapped, looking positively jealous.

Feeling her face explode in blush, Y/n reburied her face as she felt a presence blip onto her head as someone began stroking her hair. “don’t listen to him, honey" Stretch said, soothingly, "he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU-!”

“Okay! I think I’m done with this conversation!”

Gathering the skeletons from her body, she placed them gently on the coffee table and stood up herself, “I’m going to off to distract you guys with the one thing that always attracts bitties.”

“more skin?” Red suggested.

Y/n kept walking out of the room, calling over her shoulder, “Ignoring you!”

~*~

What she did was come back with a tray that was filled with a combination of leftovers and small cups filled with all the different condiments.

She had never seen their eyes so big.

“MORE PASTA THAN THERE IS OF ME!” Exclaimed Papyrus, breathing in deeply the aroma of the freshly heated pasta leftovers Y/n and brought out on the tray, placing it before him, “THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!”

“i’ve had dreams about this.” Red said in awe as he stared into a bowl of mustard that might as well have been a bath to him. He began to take off his jacket, “time ter make it come true!”

Edge came up behind him, lifting him up, “I THINK NOT!”

“why not boss?!” Red gestured to the lasagne behind Edge, “yer can’t tell me you don’t want to dive face first on that!”

“NO, I DO NOT! AS MUCH AS LASAGNA IS SIMPLY THE GREATEST FOOD, IT IS STILL FOOD SANS!”

Y/n noticed the slip with a start, and began trying to remember if there had been more slips she hadn’t noticed or chose to ignore.

Red and Edge continued their argument while she tried remembering, “THE LAST THING I WANT TO SEE IF YOUR NAKED SELF DRIPPING MUSTARD ALL OVER THE HOUSE!”

“I would also like to add that I don’t need to think about you guys taking a literal bath in front of me.” she added, blushing slightly.

Red turned his eyes to her, smirking, “already thinking about it, eh y/n?”

Before she could deny it, there came a long sigh as every turned to see a bare-chested Mutt chest deep in his bowl of barbeque sauce, looking very content.

“REALLY MUTT??” Black exclaimed, exasperated, “AND WHAT IS YOUR PLAN FOR GETTING YOURSELF CLEAN AGAIN??”

Mutt shrugged, “teleport to either the sink or pool?”

“You don’t need to deal with either, “Y/n said, remembering how cold the pool could get and the pain it was to deal with washing herself in a sink with holes her legs kept slipping in that would scrap her skin off, “You guys can use my shower if you want.”

He cracked open an eye, surprised by her offer.

She frowned, “I may not like how you treated me, but that doesn’t mean I have to treat you in kind.”

He leant back and closed his eyes, “fair enough.”

“DID YOU REALLY JUST STRIP??” Blueberry cried out, covering his eyes.

Mutt sighed heavily, before standing up. Gasping, Y/n quickly averted her eyes and looked away, blushing furiously.

“Mutt!” she exclaimed.

Red chuckled, “relax babydoll. mutt’s wearing briefs.”

“…You guys wear briefs?” she turned around just in time to see Sans, Stretch and Red stripping to their own briefs, tossing their clothes off to the side as they climbed into the bowls with a sigh.

“sure do.” Sans said as he let out a long sigh, the biggest smile she had ever seen of his face.

“nice to keep everything loose.” Red agreed, sitting down into his own bowl as Edge glared on.

“Please tell me we aren’t having this conversation!” She exclaimed, wondering what was her life anymore.

Ink sat up from the armchair as he pocketed his phone to lean forward and ask, “Now, how many of you would wear a thong? I’m asking for a Reader.”

“I do not want to think about any of them in thongs!”

“SECONDED!” Blueberry exclaimed as Papyrus, Edge and Black fervently nodded their heads.

“YOU'VE RUINED THIS BURRITO FOR ME, YOU MANGY MUTT!” Black cried, kicking the contained that had one of his burritos in it.

Y/n held her hand out to the last of the skeletons currently without condiment all over their bodies, “Think I should cut some smaller slices for you guys and put a movie on?”

~*~

In the end, Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge, and Black sat with her, leaning on her arms and neck as they watched something light-hearted and silly. Sans, Stretch, Red, and Mutt watched on from their bowls, with Sans calling it a ‘dive-in-movie’, much to their amusement. As some point, Y/n looked at the pocket watch and saw, with a start, that the next event had already happened and that the one after that was going to happen soon.

“Hey guys?” They all looked at her, “So apparently the next thing was ‘What if the skeletons had no magic’ and the one coming up soon just says ‘Multiply and kiss’.”

“kinky.” Grined Red.

“i wouldn’t say that till after we know what it is.” Sans warned, “what if even more versions of our selves were pulled in and we found ourselves in yet another fight?”

“what if we have to kiss them away?” Stretch grinned.

“I can take em.” Red said, confidently, “if you count punching someone in the face a ’kiss’.”

“How would take them on if they did appear?” Y/n asked, grinning, “I can literally hold you in my hand.”

“i seem to have done pretty much the same ter you y/n.” He grinned over at her, “you seemed to fair well.”

“Did none of you notice you losing your magic?” she asked, looking around and kind of wishing she had more time playing around with her's when she had it.

Sans shrugged, “Whatever it is, it’s not repressing our magic, which knocks us off our feet,” “MOST OF US.” grumbled Black bitterly. “-and since you’re taking good care of us, there’s been no need to use it.”

“GUESS THIS MEANS YOU’LL HAVE TO CARRY US EVERYWHERE!” Blueberry exclaimed happily, before quickly amending, “I MEAN, IF YOU WOULD DO SO, WHICH WOULD BE NICE.”

She nuzzled him with the side of her face, “No problem there. I more than owe you all that service.” she looked over to Sans, “But I wouldn’t say I’ve done much in the ‘looking after you’ category.”

Sans cupped a handful of ketchup, letting it slip between his fingers as he grinned up at her, “kid, this is literally a dream come true for me.”

“you’re going to tell us you’ve never done anything like this?” Stretch asked, rolling onto his stomach to look at her, honey dripping from his raised legs.

She grinned, “Once or twice.”

They all shared a laugh at her admission, before Y/n was checking her time again, “Still, since we got lucky on the whole ‘the next one wasn’t that big of a deal’ but the next one looks like an unknown, I say we end this dream early and get you guys washed up.”

“aww.” complained the bathing skeletons.

She stood up and walked towards the lien press, “No ‘awws’ about it. Shower time, and then we’ll see what ‘multiple’ means.”

~*~

Y/n spent the rest of the time carrying the boys to their own destinations. First, it was to carry Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge and Black into the kitchen, so that they could get started washing all the bitty plates and utensils they had used to eat dinner in a bowl of hot water she left them, along with paper towels. Next, she had to carry all the condiment boys up to her house, wrapping them in a towel so they wouldn’t drip.

It didn’t stop them from purposefully touching her skin with their sticky hands, grinning like smug bastards each and every one of them.

Vowing that if she remembered any of this, they would pay for that, she gave them very serve warnings about how she expected her house to remain a ‘condiment-free’ zone with a vague threat that hinted as something truly horrible; spring cleaning her entire house!

Then she had gone back to the kitchen after explaining which vent they needed to crawl out of if they wanted to join her downstairs.

Now she was sitting back on the couch, the coffee table cleared as Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge, and Black waited with her for the final minute to count down.

“Hurry up!” she yelled into the vent, “Time's nearly up!”

“WHAT’S TAKING THEM SO LONG!?” Edge huffed, pacing back and forwards on the table top.

She shrugged, “Maybe it takes time washing between all the bones?”

“IT DOES IF YOU’RE DOING A SPOTLESS JOB LIKE I DO.” Black said, posing, “BUT MY BROTHER, NONE OF OUR BROTHERS I SHOULD SAY ACTUALLY, WOULD SPEND THIS MUCH TIME ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT!”

Shrugging, she checked the watch again, watching the final seconds ticking down, “I wouldn’t know; I have skin…..and there.” she looked up, before looking around the room with them, “Anyone see or feeling anything?”

“IS SOMETHING SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?” Papyrus asked, nervously.

They all turned to Ink.

He pulled out a smaller paintbrush from his sash, waggling it around, “Want me to demonstrate what it is or do you want to find out yourselves?”

“I think we’d be safer taking our chances.” Y/n said, flatly.

“Safer not knowing what you’re doing?” Ink shook his head, “Nah, this way is way more interesting!”

With that, a rainbow glow surrounded his hand and Papyrus was dragged forward, into his waiting hand.

“Let Papyrus go!” she snapped, standing quickly.

Ink held out a hand to her, stopping her in her tracks, “I’d never hurt the cinnamonroll; I just want to show how this idea works.”

Before she had a chance to say another word, Ink was tickling Papyrus's nasal cavity with the tip of his paintbrush.

Papyrus’s face crumpled as he built up a sneeze.

“AH---AHCHOOO!!”

*Pop!*

The Papyrus from Ink’s hand disappeared in a cloud of smoke and two Papyrus appeared outside his grasp, cling to his hand to stop from falling.

Y/n just started.

Papyrus, on the other hand, greeted himself, “HELLO ME!”

“LOOK, IT’S ME!” grinned the other one, before waving, “HELLO OTHER ME!”

“They-they multiply if they sneeze??” Y/n asked, sitting down hard.

Ink placed the two Papyrus gently on the table, where they both started checking out the other, much to the shock of everyone else around them, “Isn’t that such a  neat and interesting idea??”

“Wh-what happened to the original??”

Ink brandished the paintbrush between the two Papyrus, “Which one of you is the original?”

“I AM!” they both cried out, before looking at each other, questioningly. “YOU THINK YOU’RE THE ORIGINAL?”

“CERTAINLY! FOR I AM THE ONE WITH THE MEMORIES THAT LEAD TO BEING IN INK’S HAND AND THEN SUDDENLY APPEARING OUTSIDE OF IT!”

“ME TOO!”

“Boys, there’s no original; to avoid any ‘I’m the original’ debates, I made sure the ‘original’ simply breaks into two copies. You’re both copies and yet, you’re both the originals? Understand?”

The two Papyrus looked up at him together, “NO!”

Ink shrugged, looking over at Y/n, “Adorable, isn’t he?”

“What stops him from sneezing and taking over the house as a bitty army of himself?”

“Well, that would be the other part of that ‘multiply and kiss’ thing, right?” To answer, he picked up the nearest Papyrus, who let out a cry of “Nyeh!”, dropping him in Y/n’s outstretched hand.

“Go on, give him a peck on his skull.”

Y/n looked down at the Papyrus standing on her hand, blushing as he rubbed the back on his skull awkwardly. “Mind if I give you a kiss Paps? We-we kinda need to know what happens.”

His blushed further, “N-NO! *AHEM*," He took a moment to compose himself, “GO AHEAD. WE-WE HAVE TO KNOW WHAT THE OTHER PART ME-MEANS.”

Smiling softly, Y/n lent forward and kissed Papyrus's bowed head.

*Poof!*

Her hand suddenly grew lighter as the Papyrus on her hand vanished in a cloud of smoke.

“Pap-Papyrus??” she looked over to the reminding on, who was blushing heavily, rubbing the place she had just kissed the other one, “Are you okay Papyrus??”

“I-I FELT THAT,” he looked up at her, “I DIDN’T FEEL ANYTHING THAT ONE DID UNTIL THE KISS, THEN SUDDENLY I GOT ALL OF HIS MEMORIES. IT-IT’S VERY WEIRD.”

“IS IT SAFE?” Edge asked, eyeing him carefully.

Papyrus nodded.

Blueberry was rubbing his chin thoughtfully, before a spark of mischief flashed in his eyes.

“Blue-“

“AH-AHCHOO!” Blueberry forced sneezed, disappearing in a cloud of smoke only for two Blueberrys emerging.

“IT WORKED!” they cheered together, before smirking again.

“AH-AHCHOO!”

Now there were four Blueberrys grinning at each other, well on their way to creating eight!

Not to be outdone, both Papyrus and Edge had already sneezed and now there was a crowd of bitty sized copies of three of her skeleton friends on her coffee table.

“Ink!” Y/n cried, “There has to be a limit on how many copies there're allowed to be!!”

“There does?” Ink asked, watching more come into existence, “What if there’s no limit and, if you don’t like the number, you just kiss faster?”

“Ink!” she snapped as the coffee table over-filled with skeletons and Black was forced to make a leap for it was copies of Papyrus, Blueberry and Edge began spilling over.

Ink folded his arms, “Fine! I’ll put the cap at ten. That should be more than enough bitty skeletons for you (who am I kidding; there’s no such thing as enough).”

The numbers stopped exploding, but now there was a near deafening den of chatter as the Papyruses, Blueberrys and Edges talked amount themselves, struggling for table space.

“Why did you do this guys?!” she complained as she lifted Black to her shoulder and spoke to the crowd at large.

The only answer she got was deafening noise as each skeleton tried to explain at once and over each other.

“Stop!” she called over the noise, “I don’t know why you felt the need to do this, but now I’ve got to kiss you guys until your numbers are back to a reasonable level!”

“HAVEN’T YOU FIGURED OUT THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT?!” Black scolded, sitting down in a huff.

She picked up the nearest Edge, who struggled to free himself from her grasp, “Yeah, but what other choice do I have?”

“PUNISH THEM FOR THEIR CHEEK! GATHER THEM ALL AND LOCK THEM OUTSIDE OR IN A VERY CONFINING BOX! DON’T REWARD THEM!”

“Black, you do really see me doing anything like that?”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Black pouted, folding his arms, “YOU COULD ALWAYS TRY DOING THINGS MY WAY FOR A CHANGE!”

Y/n shrugged, kissing the squirming Edge in her hand out of existence. All the other Edge’s immediately exploded out in a red glowing blush, each trying their best to scramble away from her now.

She laughed, grabbing a bunch of struggling Edges at once, “I think my ways working just fine.”

~*~

She knew that there were more Edge’s hiding than the ten she could see on the table,  but at least now they were a manageable number. Halfway through her kissing-culling, Sans, Stretch, Red, and Mutt had, at last, come down, looking thoroughly shocked to see not only many copies of Papyrus, Blueberry, and Edge, but to also see Y/n kissing with apparent abandonment.

Black had explained to them as best as he could on what this bout of insanity was, and soon, their copies were added to the pile of wandering and interacting copies of all the guys.

All the guys, but Black.

“Why aren’t you copying yourself?” Y/n asked as she watched him standing amidst a crowd of his brother’s clones, moving them to form what could only be described as an army.

“BECAUSE I AM A FLAWLESS, PERFECTION AND THERE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE!” He insisted, moving one of his brother’s copies into line.

She looked over at the Edes, who had formed what could only be called a gang, muttering to each other as they looked threatening and tough as all the other skeletons close by. Knowing what she knew about these guys, it was strange that only Black had refrained from coping himself.

She would have expected Edge and Black to be of the same mind, even if they disagreed with each other.

“Any reason you’re forming an army then?” she asked, looking back to Black, “Between you and Edge, I’d think you two were waring gangs trying to gain more land.”

“I’M PREPARING FOR THE NEXT THING!” Black snapped, standing on a nearby remote to look over his ‘army’, “YOU SAID WE’D BECOME BITTIES.”

“That’s what the watch says,” she looked up over the group of Papyrus and Blueberry’s playing tag with each other to look at Ink, “but that doesn’t make sense as you’re already bitties.”

“There’s a difference between bitty sized and bitty AU.”

“Are you going to explain that?” she asked, yet again.

Ink grinned smugly, “Nope.”

Rolling her eyes, she looked down at her lap, where a group of Sans, Stretch, and Reds were lounging about, cracking jokes and puns away from their brother’s annoyance.

“i wouldn’t worry about it.” said a Sans laying on and over her shoulder, patting her somewhat reassuringly.

She sighed, moving back as various skeletons that draped themselves over her body grumbled about the adjustment, “Because you know what AU he’s talking about?”

“nope, i just wouldn’t worry about it.”

She laughed, “Mr Stress telling me to relax, is he?”

He shrugged, flipping onto his back, “i never said i follow my own advice kiddo.”

She laughed and pulled a struggling mass from her hair when she felt something moving about in it. What she found was a Blueberry, who was sitting on her palm, looking shifty.

“And what were you doing in my hair, Mr Blue?”

He looked guilty as he sat, playing with his gloves, “I-I WAS LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO HIDE?”

She kissed him out of existence and all the Blueberry’s groaned and covered their blushing faces, much to their mocking by the various skeletons who happened to be close to a blushing Blueberry.

“No playing in Y/n’s hair.”  she lectured.

“another rule?” A Stretch asked, leaning against her stomach.

“Hey, don’t blame me; blame your brother who likes exploring.”

“there are so many jokes i love to make about exploring you, y/n.” grinning a Red on her lap, much to the amusement of the other Reds nearby him.

In response, she picked up the Red in question and kissed him out of existence too, causing the other Red’s to blush rapidly and pull their hoods over their glowing skulls as one.

“What did I say about rude jokes?”

The Reds began arguing in their embarrassment, insisting they were innocent.

“I know and you know what you were insinuating. Don’t try and be coy about it.”

Y/n was rather enjoying herself, she had to admit. For the most part, the guys were mostly content to sit and talk amongst themselves, or playing games as was the case for most of the Papyruses and Blueberrys’. Laying back as she was on the couch, most of the skeletons had taken spots on her and she had fun listening in to their conversations, sometimes adding something herself when she wanted to pipe in.

It was amazing how relaxed and well they got along, considering what she had seen of their first interaction.

But soon, an hour had passed all too fast, leaving her dreading what else could be added to this already heavily layered curses so far.

“Right, last chance to say or do something before the next things happens.” she warned, watching the clock tick down.

“anyone know how long we have left before normality?” A Sans asked.

“we’ve got about 10 hours,” supplied a Stretch.

“Should I go and check on the puddle?” She offered.

A Red waved her off, “and have you get up, nah. unless,” He looked up at her, “you take me with you.”

“No way pal.” another Red complained, flipping off the first Red, “She aint’s going anywhere without me taggin' along.

Other Red’s nodded their agreement.

Sighing, Y/n stuck up her hands, “Okay, well it looks like I’m staying here after all, so forget I offered.”

“IT’S OKAY.” A Papyrus said, poking his head out from between the seat cushions, covered in dust as he held a small sponge in one hand, “I’M SURE THE PUDDLE IS STILL DRYING AT THE SAME RATE.”

“Wish I could be as optimistic as you.” She plucked him for between the seat cushions, placing him on the coffee table as she called out, “Anyone else hiding or doing some ‘bitty cleaning’ should probably stop until we know what’s in store.”

Skeletons began crawling out of strange places, most noticeable the vent where at least four Papyrus and Blueberry came back as a crowd.

“And where were you guys hiding?”

Realising her mistake a second after they all began to give their account at once, she held up her hand, “It’s okay; I don’t really need to know. Just join the others and let’s see what happens next.”

When the final second ticked over, Y/n was keeping an eye on all of them, searching for any changes.

There didn’t appear to be anything….until all the Blueberry’s scattered, giggling as they ran.

“Blueberry??” she asked, sitting up and looking surprised, “Where are you guys going?”

“ADVENTURE!” they cried out as they ran, some diving under the couch and others scaling the DVD case.

“….Okay.” she looked at the pile of skeletons on her, “Any of you feeling different?”

Most of the Sans on her had a snot bubble as they drolled with their mouths closed, dead to the world. The two who were awake made some version of the pun ‘feeling boneified’, snickering and high fiving each other. All of the Stretches had pulled out a dog treat and were smoking them, leaning back and looking so relaxed they risked toppling off her. All the Reds were sitting up, muttering darkly as they flipped each other off. As she watched, it kept building up between a couple of Reds until one actually stood up and marched over to one in particular.

“you’ve got somethin’ to say to me, fuck-face?!”

The other Red stood up, grabbing the first Red’s shirt, “take yer ugly face and get out of my space before bash yer skull in!!”

“Whoa! Guys!”

They ignored her, and when they (and the others) began rolling up their sleeves, she stuck her hand between them “Okay, that’s en-ow!!”

Both Reds had lashed out, sinking their teeth into her hand as the others made a break for it, leaping down onto the floor and scattering.

Grabbing one of the ones who had bitting her, she held him tightly in her hand glaring at him. “Why did you bite me?!”

“cause you’re a fuckin’ bitch!”

That stung more than it should, but nowhere near the pain of having him sink his teeth into her hand yet again.

She cried out in pain and tossed him to the far couch corner, where he immediately started ripping into the seat cushion.

“Red, stop that!”

“fuck you! fuck yer things too!”

A Papyrus came up to her then, leaping for her lap as he patted her leg comfortingly, “DON’T WORRY; I THINK YOU’RE THE MOST AMAZING PERSON EVER!”

Y/n gapped at him, looked over to the Red disappearing in an explosion of fluff, before looking over to Ink.

“What the hell is going on??”

Ink looked up from his texting, to smiling widely at Y/n. “Is the Reader insert in Bitty Hunt asking me about bitties?”

“Just tell me.” she snapped, nursing bleeding hand.

“Right.” Ink sat up and pulled out a pencil from his sash, before scribbling on the end of his brown scarf. “So, there’s a difference between this story and other, typical bitty stories. Traditionally, it’s Sans and Papyrus who are small, who are then taken in by the Reader insert. That evolved into this idea of having Sans and Papyrus be like pets you could adopt from a shelter, which quickly expanded to the other AU’s, each having distinct and shared personalities. So, when you adopt a Sans, you’re adopting him from a bunch of other Sanses, none of which actually have brothers and all basically with the same personalities.” He pointed to a Sans snoozing on her shoulder, “Sans there, or ‘Sansys’ are typically goofballs who like napping wherever they can. Stretch or ‘Lil Bro’ is basically a laid back, good-natured stoner. Red or, strangely enough, ‘Edgy’ as he’s sometimes called, is basically a little shit. Lots of bitting and destroying things with that species.”

“Yeah, no shit.” she complained, in between sucking on her new bite marks.

Ink pointed to a Papyrus, “Pappy’s are very loving and super supportive, while Baby Blues (that would be Blueberry) are super adventures and love playing games. I’d, um, I’d actually keep an eye on them if I were you.”

She looked over to the DVD case and saw what he meant; all the Blueberrys were trying to build a fort out of DVDs, not realising that they were knocking things off as they mode things about. Sighing she placed several seat cushions around its base, figuring that that had some chance of keeping them and her things safe.

Done with that, she looked over to the pile of skeletons still on the table, “So what can I expect from Edge?”

“What, Bosses?” Ink laughed, “Honestly, not much change there, although Bosses tend to be a bit more, well, bossy than what Edge is typical. Not a biter though, so that’s a plus.”

Her eyes gazed over to the ‘Mutt’ army, where several Papyruses where crouching down around the group of Mutts and patting their backs as the spoke words of encouragement. The Mutts were huddled into a pile, mayon their sides and all of them looking like the had very low energy.

Curious, she gently plucked up a Mutt, watching as she had to pry him from the group a bit, before he just simply hung limply in her hand.

“What’s wrong with Mutt?” she asked, growing corner with how passive he was.

“He’s not a Mutt, he’s a ‘Pup’ and nothing’s wrong with him; that’s just how he is. Try bringing your bit hand to him.”

“Why, so he can bite me too?” she asked, but did as he suggested.

Mutt clung to her hand, nuzzling it as he grew warmer on her hand. Eventually, the stinging sensation left and she could tell she had been healed.

“Whoa.” she said, lifting him up to peer under his body to look at her restored hand, “That’s a neat trick!”

“Not much of a conversationist (but then again, what Mutt personality is), Pups are basically mute, but they will cling to and heal any warm body.”

“Where’s Black?” she asked, looking back at the pile.

Acting on a hunch, she gently pushed through the supportive Papyrus and the passive Mutt’s until she reached the center’s pile, where Black was curled up, sobbing softly.

“Black,” she cooed, picking him up, “Oh geez, what’s wrong.”

“Again, nothing wrong.” Ink came over to her at this point, peering over her shoulder, “That’s a Cherry (or Runt, depending on which Creator you ask) and they cry all the time. Very emotional, very needy.”

“NOBODY LOVES ME!!” Black wailed, curling in on himself.

“That’s not true.” she insisted. Gently, she peeled off the Mutt on her healed hand and move him closer to Black, where Mutt immediately let go of her hand and wrapped himself around the crying Black. Black only sobbed harder, so she cupped Black and Mutt to her chest, looking around the room.

“How am I suppose to keep an eye on these guys when they’re so many of them and so different to how they should be?” she asked, seeing several things that needed her attention first.

“At least they haven’t got their magic powers.” Ink said, trying to look on the bright side.

There came a very loud crash as all the DVDs that had made up the DVD castle the Blueberrys were building collapsed to the ground, with several Blueberrys toppling off with it. Ripping sounds were now audible coming from out under the couch and it looked like the Papyrus were trying to be supportive to the Edges, who did not like being told what to do.

Sighing, Y/n left the room. “I need a good container.”

~*~

It had taken next to no effort capturing all the Sans and kissing all but one into oblivion, placing the dozing bitty into a box she had taken from the attic, lined with a soft pillow. Likewise, Stretch was just as easy to capture and reduce to just the one, very chill and friendly bitty, who didn’t seem to mind his new surroundings as he kept smoking his treat. She did feel bad about kissing the Papyrus out of existence as each told her she was doing a good job, that he loved her and that he was so proud of all her hard work. The moment she made a move on the Blueberrys, they ran, giggling as they made a game out of it. They would hide in places she easily couldn’t reach, coming out to tag her before running back in giggles. Eventually, she widdled down their numbers to just the one, who jumped around in the box like it was a jumping castle.

Any attempt to grab the Reds before they managed to completely destroy the house could only happen after she found gloves thick enough to protect her hands. Coming back with protection gloves from the workshop, she managed to track and capture all the Red using a combination of insulting challenges and mustard bribery. Kiss them had been a very careful process, and, in the end, she had decided he should not be in with the others, instead, trapping him under an empty, up-ended see through metal waste bin. As he was gashing his teeth uselessly at the metal bars, Y/n attempted to capture Edge, who acted like a unit to keep all their numbers safe, smacking her hand when she was close enough. The only thing that worked was making them turn against each other by asking who was in charge, where, as they argued, she managed to snatch them off one by one until she had just the one left. Mutt and Black were then placed into the nest she had made in the boxe's corner, made out of a soft towel, where she watched Black continuely cry as Mutt just hugged him.

“I would have love to put a little Atsy in the mix, but” Ink sighed, “ah well, maybe next year.”

“What’s an Atsy?” she asked, sitting by the box and just watching them interact with each other.

She could definitely see the appeal….even if there was a moral question you’d have to ignore about actually owning creatures this intelligent.

Ink pointed to himself, “Why, that’s little old adorable me! I have a bitty of me out there too!”

“What’s he like? All powerful, egotistical and likes toying with the others?”

He ignored her snap, “I’ll show you!”

Next, a mini version of Ink popped into existence in the box. Immediately, bitty Ink ran to the walls, drawing along the cardboard walls…using just his fingers.

“How-how is he getting all those colours?” she asked, watching the little guy work.

Ink waggled his fingers, “Magic!”

There was a moment of silence as she just kept watching them, waving back at Papyrus and high fiving Blueberry every time he jumped up to reach for her hand.

“Are you just going to sit here and watch them?” complained Ink, “Don’t you want to interact with them?”

“More than anything.” she sat back, grinning, “but it’s more important to keep them safe and get through as many of these changes as we can.” She gave him a dead-pan look, “You know, minus unnecessary chaos?”

“Well, I can’t have that!” Ink pulled out his phone, tapping rapidly at the screen, “I’m going to make the next thing happen sooner and change it into ‘Y/n falls asleep.’” He looked up smugly, “You know, to minimise the whole ‘control’ aspect?”

“Don’t you dare!” she cried out, reaching for him.

Ink tapped something on his screen and Y/n felt her energy go.

The last thing she saw was Ink waving her goodbye, grinning like the evil bastard he really was.

~*~

When Y/n woke up, it was to an overturned box, a knocked over trash can and a semi-destroyed living room with graffiti along its walls, about an inch from the ground.

She was all alone with not a single bitty in sight.

She sat back, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. “Mum and Dad are going to kill me!!”

Y/n, the five-year-old, didn’t really notice that it was dark outside or that, if she could read time, an hour had passed since she last saw it, or that she was in smaller, child-like body.

All she knew was that her mum and dad were going to punish her for all of this and she didn’t even do it!

Her crying eventually attracted Papyrus, who came running from the kitchen.

“LITTLE HUMAN! DON’T CRY! I WISH FOR NOTHING MORE THAN YOU TO BE HAPPY!”

“Mum an-*sob*-and Dad are going to be so mad at meeeee!!”

Y/n burst into tears, sobbing into her hands.

When she settled enough to stop crying, she noticed that she was surrounded by little skeletons, all but sure she knew them even as she struggled to remember their names.

“Who-who are you?”

“we don’t have fuckin’ names.” Red spat, “you’re such a shitty owner, yer never bothered to give us some.”

“*Gasp!* You said a naughty word!” Y/n reached over and picked up Red, waggling her finger in his face, “Don’t use naughty words!”

Red bite her and she quickly let go, crying once again as she pushed herself away from the mean bitty. Pressing her back to the wall, she nursed her hand as bleed, where eventually Black collapsed by her side, crying too.

“PLEASE DON’T BE SAD!” he sobbed, “I-I’M SORRY I’M SUCH A USELESS PET THAT I COULDN’T PROTECT YOU!”

Y/n picked him up and, together, they cried in each other’s arms.

Papyrus came rushing over then, carrying Mutt in his arms. Tossing Mutt up, Papyrus watched as Mutt curled around Black’s back and attempted to join the hug, healing both parties. Sighing, Papyrus hugged the little human’s side too, telling her all of his favourite things about her (which happened to be everything).

Blueberry, unaccustomed to so much crying, tried pulling Y/n’s hand and over towards somewhere else. “COME ON! LET’S PLAY! PLAYING ALWAYS CHEERS ME UP!”

“I don’t want to play!” she sobbed, feeling a bit better, even as her hand throbbed in pain.

“YOU DON’T??” The idea seemed to shake Blueberry to his core, and he sat down heavily, having and existential crisis.

Edge, meanwhile, was scolding Red, “GO AND APOLOGISE!”

“no!” Red snapped.

Edge grabbed and lifted Red’s shirt, lifting him up into the air, “SO HELP ME, YOU WILL DO AS I SAY!”

“why should i!?” Red struggled to say, squirming in Edge’s grip.

Edge lifted him so that he could see Y/n crying, “SEE WHAT YOU DID TO OUR OWNER?!?”

“so?!” spat Red, looking anywhere but Y/n crying.

“SO?!” Edge tossed him away, “SO YOU WILL APOLOGISE OR NEVER SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME AGAIN!”

Red flipped him off and scurried into the nearby vent, his small, red glowing eyes peering back out of from the darkness.

“that could have gone better.” Stretch commentated, laying against Sans’s sleeping side, both resting on the pillow that had once been inside the box.

Sans cracked open an eye and said, smugly, “you mean, ‘that could have gone bitty’.”

Sans chuckled at his own joke as Stretch shrugged with a smile, “whatever you say buddy.”

~*~

Eventually, Y/n settled enough that she began to realise that she hadn’t seen her mum or dad in while.

“Where are my parents?” she asked, as something nagged at the back of her mind that she was forgetting something really important. Did she forget to have a bath tonight? Had she forgotten her teeth again?

Papyrus looked around the empty room devoid of any other humans, “WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANY OTHER HUMANS HERE, LITTLE OWNER.”

“YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE TO PLAY WITH!” Blueberry piped up, his energy returning to full as it appeared Y/n was done with crying.

“WE CAN HELP YOU LOOK!” Papyrus said, standing taller now that he could help his owner!

“WE CAN MAKE IT A GAME!” Blueberry quickly added, as his eyes shifted into literal stars.

Y/n wiped her eyes and nose on her bare wrist, wiping the tears and mucus on her pants as she stood up, “Yeah, okay.” she looked around at all the skeletons gathered at her feet and the two in her arms, “Will you help me look?”

“CERTAINLY!” Papyrus cried out at the same time Blueberry happily exclaimed, “OF COURSE!”

Mutt remained unresponsive as Black began crying her arms, “I’M NO HELP TO ANYONE!”

“Why?” She asked, picking him up and looking at him as Mutt shifted to hugging and clinging to her stomach.

“ BE-BECAUSE I’M TOO PATHETIC TO HELP ANYONE!” wailed Black.

“Why?” Y/n asked again, struggling to understand why he was crying.

“I JUST AM!”

Seeing the tears flowing freely from Black’s eyes, she brought him to her chest, patting him like he was a baby doll she used to have. “Shh, shh. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. You’re good. You’re happy. Don’t cry.”

Black kept on crying, clinging to her shirt as purple tears flowed from his eyes. So she kept him where he was, patting his back as she kept talking to the other little skeletons around her. “Who else wants to help me find Mum and Dad?”

“ME! ME!” Blueberry said eagerly, dancing from foot to foot with his arm as high as it could, waving energetically to get her attention.

She picked him and placed him on her shoulder.

“I WILL HELP YOU HUMAN!” Papyrus said proudly.

“Then you can come with me too.” She added him to her other shoulder, before looking over at remaining four skeletons. “How about you?”

Ink was drawing on Sans’s sleeping face, but he did look up when she spoke to him. “New canvases?” he asked.

“I don’t know what that word means.”

“New places to draw?!” Ink clarified, his eye lights growing brighter and bigger in anticipation.

“Um…” she looked back at Sans’s face, thinking that looked fun, “Sure! But Mum and Dad can’t find out, okay?”

“Deal!” Ink held out his hand, shaking her little finger.

Adding him to her shoulder, she looked to Stretch, who shrugged, “sure kid. i’ll tag along and help you look.”

“Thank you!” she added him to her crowded shoulders, before plucking Sans up as well and adding him in her arms, “And you can come along with me, mister.”

Finally, she turned to face Edge, who had his back to her, “Will you-“

“IF I COME WITH YOU,” he said, turning around to point a finger up at her, “YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING I SAY!”

“Everything?”

“EVERYTHING!”

She looked around the empty room, “If….if I do that, will we find my parents?”

Edge folded his arms and said, confidently, “OF COURSE!”

She smiled, “Okay.” Adding him to her shoulder, she stood up, struggling to keep everyone on her from falling. “So, where should I look first.”

“FIRST.” Edge kicked Stretch from his lounging position by Y/n neck, claiming the spot for himself, “THERE! MUCH BETTER!”

Y/n managed to catch Stretch by the tip of his hoodie as he was booted from her shoulder, but the wild dash nearly toppled everyone else off her. Struggling to place him by Sans on the same arm she caught him with, Y/n looked over to glare at Edge, “That wasn’t very nice!”

“QUITE FOOL! I REQUIRE THE VERY BEST POSITION TO COMMAND EVERYONE IF WE ARE TO SUCCEED!” Before she could tell him he was wrong and a meanie, he snapped at Blueberry, “STOPPING JUMPING AROUND ON THE OWNER'S SHOULDERS!”

“BUT THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG!” Compained Blueberry, flopping back as he rolled around on her shoulder, bored out of his little mind!

“PICK A SPOT OR I WILL ATTACH YOU TO ONE!”

Blueberry stuck out his tongue at the enraged Edge, “YOU’D HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!”

Edge ran over and booted Blueberry off her shoulder too, where he tumbled over and off her back.

“Oh no!” She bent down and leaned in for a closer look, “Are you okay??”

Blueberry stagged to his feet, one hand holding his head. Hearing her, he looked up, happily waving, “I’M FINE! NOTHING CAN HURT ME! I’M INVINCIBLE!”

His other arm hung limply from his arm, dislocated.

Not that either party knew or even acknowledge that. Instead, Y/n smiled brightly that her friend wasn’t hurt, but now, how was she supposed to pick him up? Her arms were full, and she didn't want to risk dropping anyone.

An idea sprung to her mind.

Standing back up, she presented her shoe to him, “You can ride along on my shoe!”

Blueberry’s eyes began to sparkle. “YEAH! THAT SOUNDS LIKE WAY MORE FUN!”

Hoping on, Blueberry used his legs to hold himself in place as his one good hand waved about in the air, “YEEEE-HAAA! ONWARDS, OWNER'S SHOE!”

Laughing, Y/n began walking, throwing each foot high into the air, much to Blueberry's whoops and cheering, always wishing she’d go higher, faster!

“SEE? EVERYTHING WORKED OUT.” Edge posed on her shoulder, “AND THAT’S WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS LISTEN TO ME.”

~*~

Nobody was upstairs. Not even in Mummy and Daddy’s room. Nan wasn’t in her room either, but then, didn’t she use to go to the hospital and other places all the time? Her brother and her sister were missing, and now, Y/n felt like she had been abandoned.

Left alone and forgotten.

“Mum? Dad?” she cried out as she moved from empty room to empty room.

She had long since stopped playing with Blueberry and was now wandering aimlessly about the house, making her way back downstairs.

Edge looked nervous, but he managed to hold it together and demanded she check this room or that, always ready to suggest something new. Papyrus was always by her side now, patting her cheek softly and telling her that he’d be with her forever. The more she grew distressed, the heavier Black cried and the tighter she hugged him as their misery feed each other. Stretch insisted things would work out, to take deep breaths and just relax, while Sans and Mutt remained silent, albeit, for different reasons.

She was pretty sure Ink was on her back, drawing something she couldn’t see on her shirt.

Not that she cared.

Not when she discovered the family car missing, replaced by vehicles she had never seen before. Desperate, she began to head out the front gates, to wander down the dirt road that she remembered Mum and Dad driving out of when they had to go to the shops or other things like that. But as she exited and stood on the tar road of the empty main street, alone at night under a bright moon, she felt deep within her that she should return to home at once.

That she had to return.

Now she was hiding away under Dad’s desk in the study room, crying into her knees in the dark. Edge had taken Blueberry with him, using the later as a sort of track dog as the two used the ventilation system to check the whole area again.

“WE’VE JUST MISSED THEM!” He had insisted, looking at her crying uneasily, “THAT’S ALL!”

When she had been unable to respond, he had dragged Blueberry with him, leaving her with Papyrus, Ink, Sans, Stretch, Black and Mutt. Black was still crying and Mutt was still passively clinging to her arm, while Sans lay back in her lap, patting her softly. Papyrus hadn’t left his spot on the crook of her neck, hugging her as he continually spoke about how amazing she was while Stretch rested against her neck on the other side, instructing her to breathe. Ink was still drawing something on her back, and she found the odd sensation of his little fingers tracing along her back oddly soothing, even if she was too distressed to do much more than weep softly.

A pair of red, glowing eyes peered out from the nearby vents at her, having followed her as she made her way around the house, and later, breathing a sigh of begrudging relief when he saw her return.

The hour ticked over, and the sound of the front door closing echoed to her, coming down the front hall.

“Is anyone home?” called her mother’s voice, sounding tired.

Pepping up at the sound, Y/n lifted her tear-stained face and turned to look the study’s door, not believing what she heard.

“Mum?” she called out.

“In the dining room.”

Picking herself up, she ran to the dining room, uncaring that the skeletons on her nearly toppled off with the sudden dash. Skidding to a halt, Y/n looked up at her parents as they sat at the dining room table, chatting about borning parent stuff.

Only, they looked way older!

She didn’t care, as happy tears spilled over her cheeks and she threw herself onto her mum’s legs.

“Mummy!” she cried, nuzzling her, “Daddy!”

A gentle hand patted her head, “Hello….um, little girl covered in skeletons?”

Y/n stood back, staring up into her mother’s concerned face, “Mum, It’s me! Y/n!” She gestured to all of her friends, “And these are my friends!”

“Y/n?” Her mother looked over to her Dad, who shrugged.

“Should we call someone?” Her mother asked softly.

“Probably the police.” Her dad looked over at her, leaning across the table, “Y/n, how did you get here?”

“Here?” Now it was her turn to look confused, “This is my home.”

“Oh dear.” Her mother continued to pat her head softly, which didn’t feel at all like how she use to pat her. It lacked affection and familiarity; she wasn’t messing up her hair or pushing her on face ontop Y/n's head.

“Mum? Dad? What’s wrong?” she asked, taking a step back as something inside her screamed at her to not do this, to run as fast as she could away from them, “Why-why don’t you remember me?”

Her Dad stood up then, coming to block her from the other side, “I think you might have us confused for someone else. Do we have the same faces as your parents?”

“You ARE my parents.” she instead, backing against the wall now, “Why are you pretending you don’t remember me??”

Before they had a chance to respond, a familiar voice snarled from above her, coming from the vent right above her head, “what kind of shitty parents forget their own kid?!”

Red pushed out the vent to leap from it, coming to stand on her head as he snarled her parents.

“Another skeleton??” Her Dad exclaimed, standing back.

“They talk??” Her mother added, just as bewildered.

“yeah, I fuckin’ talk!” Red patted Y/n’s forehead with more force than was necessary, “just look at her! she’s obviously your kid! she fuckin’ looks like you two idiots!”

Her Mum and Dad shared a quick glance.

“She does have your hair-“

“Are you suggesting we forgot our own kid, Helen??”

Her Mum sighed, “No, but maybe if we play along, we can keep everyone calm long enough for the police to get here.?

But Y/n was staring past them, lost in a realisation that connected all the oddities and helped form a terrible, terrible realisation.

“Why-why do you look so old?” she asked, seeing the grey in their hair that hadn’t been there last she remembered.

“People get older, sweetie.” Her mother said softly, as her dad left the room, “It’s what happens to adults.”

“Why-why is Dad alive?” Tears spilled silently down her cheeks as she whispered, “Why are you?”

Her mother looked uneasy, “Did-did something happen to your parents?”

She nodded, her face falling to the ground.

As she stared at her feet, her mother came over to her, crouching low and hugging her, ignoring the skeletons about her.

“I’m-I’m so sorry.” Her mother whispered, hugging her tightly.

When Y/n, at last, returned the hug, her mother rubbed her back soothingly, rocking her gently side to side as she hummed the old tune she use to when Y/n had been little and very upset.

“I’m-I’m sorry, Mum.”

Y/n allowed herself to grieve, crying into her mother’s shirt and to drink in the achingly familiar scent and touch of her mother, before she whispered, “Reset, Ink…Please.”

~*~

Y/n was back in the living room with everyone else, all of them very subdue and in very low spirits. Not even the fun of being nearly crushed by all the guys returning to their full size was enough to rid the feeling of her mother’s arms just disappearing from her. Not even hearing Edge and Blueberry crying out to be rescued from the vents they had found themselves trapped in could do much to lift her spirits.

And she couldn’t care less about the frankly masterwork of a restoration on the back of her shirt of one of her favourite family photos restored to how it was before she had disappeared from it, surrounded by her family before tragedy struck them all.

The guys, after each tried attempting to cheer her up in their own way, retreated internally, each feeling violated to some degree about what bitty versions they had become.

That, and how sad and lost five-year olf Y/n had looked and how that grief was nothing compared to bitty Y/n’s.

It had been a long night, with dawn's light peaking through the woods that surrounded them, and all of them had enough. None of them were tired, but none of them bothered to question why, blaming Ink for the reason, like everything else.

Ink, himself, seemed entirely unperturbed by everyone’s mood. He certainly didn't care that one of the first things the guys did was check that, indeed, the ink puddle was drying up. He had gone back to his texting, laying back on an armchair as he texted.

“Why are you doing this?” Y/n asked at last, compelled to understand why she had been made to suffer an entirely unnecessary heartache.

Ink didn’t look up from his texting, “Tragedy isn’t pleasant, but it’s important.”

“To who?”

He snapped his phone close, pocketing it as his other hand touched the colours on his sash, “To life. To living it.”

She glared at him “You’re making my pain into some sort of life lesson?!”

“Everything in life is a lesson. If not for you, then to someone else, certainly. For example, “ He looked up to see everyone staring at him now, “You obviously have some lingering feelings about your parents dying.”

“Of course I do!” she snapped, “My parents died and I’m sad about it, big shook!”

“Then what were you apologising to your mother for?”

Y/n closed her mouth and looked hurriedly away, rubbing her eyes quickly as she glared at nothing in particular.

The guys gave each other searching looks.

“babydoll-“ began Red.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She curled her legs up, “Just leave me alone.”

“That might be hard to do.” grinned Ink, “Considering what’s coming next.”

Y/n was tempted to throw the watch at him, but they still needed it to explain the last of the changes they could expect.

Even if they were now out of Resets.

She wasn’t sorry for using it when she had…only just sorry.

Sorry and angry. Not a good combination.

The hour ticked by, and Y/n remained sitting where she was for a few moments, before looking back at them, searching for changes.

“Guys?”

Each sat ram-rod stiff in their chairs, looking at anywhere but her, even as their eyes kept sneaking back to her. They all knew that the next change had been called ‘Heats; What if the guys got an almost pheromonal attraction to Y/n?’, which seemed to imply....

“Are you finding yourselves attracted to me?” Y/n asked, standing up slowly as she watched their reactions carefully.

A few of them briefly nodded, all of them still refusing to relax or look at her.

“Should I leave?” she asked.

“No!” they cried out, many of them reaching out to her before hastily pulling their hands back.

“it wouldn’t help.” Sans said, sitting back as he kept both hands firmly in his pockets, “we’d probably just follow you into whatever room you disappeared to.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, grateful towards all of them for trying so hard for her.

Blueberry was slowly inching his way towards her, so that he was close enough to place his head on the coffee table she sat as he asked, “COULD- COULD YOU SING FOR ME?”

“Sing?” she asked, confused.

“OR READ ALOUD?” Papyrus suggested, figiditing with his hands.

“or anything, really.” Red said, sliding off the couch to bring himself closer to her, “hell, you standing there is so fuckin’ perfect.”

Edge grabbed her then, lifting her high from Blueberry and Red, “YOU WILL ALL LEAVE Y/N ALONE! SHE IS NOT HERE TO CODDLE OR TO SERVE YOUR WHIMS! CONTROL YOURSELVES!”

“like how you’re doing?” Stretch asked, sinking low in his hoodie as he cocked an eyebrow at Edge, looking him up and down.

Edge blushed lightly, “I-I WAS JUST PROTECTING HER FROM YOU!”

“MORE LIKE YOU’RE KEEPING HER TO YOURSELF!” Black snapped, taking a step forward as Mutt smoked heavily on a dog treat beside him.

Seeing how this could go bad, very quickly, Y/n patted Edge’s hand, “It’s okay Edge. You can put me back. I trust you guys not to do anything to me, even as you all now.”

Edge just continued to stare at her, lost in his thoughts.

“Edge?”

He flinched, blushing bright red as he nodded, putting her back on the table.

Sighing, she watched how he sat right behind her, eyeing Blueberry, Red and Black distastefully before nudging her closer to him, keeping his hand between her and them.

“Edge.” she said, her voice carrying a warning.

His hand shook for a moment, before he jammed them into his lap, staring at them furiously.

She sighed deeply, looking around the room, “Perhaps I should lock myself away?”

“You really want to trap yourself in something?” Ink asked, looking at her in surprise.

She sat down, frowning, “Perhaps not.”

The last thing she wanted to do was have the guys fighting over whatever container she locked herself into. Knowing her luck, she’d bounced around inside of it, unheard, as she was torn and fought over by a bunch of skeletons with restored magic abilities.

She did not want to see them fighting any time soon.

~*~

Y/n spent the rest of the time reminding the skeletons to keep away from here as they kept finding excuses to get closer to her. Some skeletons like Papyrus, Blueberry, Edge, and Black would just inch themselves closer, but mostly, they found other reasons for just getting closer. Things like wanting to look out the window that was closet to her, or trying to figure out what type of wood the coffee table was made out of.

Not even when the watch cued them in that the next thing they should be expecting was a visit from the LustBros was enough to shake them from their continued attempts to get close.

“It says that they’ll be coming over?” Y/n asked, looking up from the watch to the room at large, “Who are they?”

“relish and charmed.” Sans said, heavily distracted.

“Are they another version of you and Papyrus?”

He grinned, standing up and making his way back over to her, “sure kid. they come from a universe that’s….well, let’s say that i’m not surprised their universe got the name ‘lust’.”

“Are they….what are they like?” she asked, wanting to know more.

Sans sat behind her, using his arms to barricade her in, “relish and charmed? oh, they’re nothing special. good guys, if constantly switched on, if you get what i mean.”

“SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, YOU SMELLY HORN-DOG.” Black snapped, reaching over out to grab Y/n and bring her into his arm barricade.

“Black.” she scolded, wearily from constantly correcting their behaviour as she watched Sans glaring at Black behind her.

But Black wasn’t done yet, “I HATE THEM! THEY CAN’T KEEP THEIR HANDS FROM MY PERFECT SELF!”

“WELL, WHO COULD EVER RESIST SUCH PERFECTION.” Purred a new voice.

Turning around, she saw two new skeletons draping themselves over Black.

From what she could see (before Black threw them off him in his rage), was that the one that looked like Sans wore a purple vest with a light blue feathers trim on its ends, a black crop-top and bone-tight pants with shin -high light blue boots. The Papyrus look-alike wore an open black turtle-neck shirt with a short black cape attachment. A pink midriff that looked like it might have either be organic (or magical) or material hid his spine from the front, with a lose fitting black belt with yellow hearts along its length resting on his hips, over tight- black long pants that were tucked into knee-high yellow boots.

“Ah!” Ink cried, leaping up from his armchair, “Now it’s a real party!”

“it always is.” said the Sans look alike, watching her with keen interest, “but first, it’s rude to not even know our future lovers’ names.”

Y/n choked, completely taken back by his forthrightness. Add to the fact that she now knew this was a different version of Sans and Papyrus, and she couldn’t help looking back at Sans in shook.

He stared at her, defiant, “kid, don’t make judgments. you haven’t met other versions of yourself yet.”

“Now there’s an idea!” Ink said, happily writing it down.

At this point, all the skeletons had made their way to the coffee table, either kneeling by her or standing close by. The two new skeletons sat back, watching them with surprise, before looking at each other.

Sans cleared his throat, “relish and charmed?” They bowed their heads to their names, “this is y/n and ink. ink’s an all-powerful sans we can’t get rid of but we hope will be gone relatively soon-“ “Oh, you flatter.” Ink grinned, chuckling to himself, “-and y/n here is the owner of this house.”

“still staying together to try and fix the machine?” Relish asked, grinning smugly.

Charmed lightly tapped the top of his shorter brother’s head, scowling at him, ”BROTHER! THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET, AND IT’S RUDE TO POINT OUT OTHERS FLAWS IN THEIR PLANS.”

“i’m just surprised that their plans involved a bitty.” Relished leaned forward, watching everyone's reactions carefully, “especially how protective they are of her.”

“That would be Ink’s doing.” Y/n said, looking around and seeing how protective the others were becoming, “And if I were you, I’d leave before you get roped into this mess.”

Relish laughed, “oh, it’s sweet of you to care, but we are already roped into this.”

Charmed nodded his head, “WE WERE SUNBATHING IN THE MORNING LIGHT-“ “naked.” purred Reslih. “-AFTER A LONG NIGHT OF PARTY ON THE SHOES OF BALI, WHEN SUDDENLY, WE’RE BACK HERE IN THIS COUNTRY.”

“we had hoped that it was Sans changing his mind and bringing us here to share the good news?” Relish said, looking at Sans hopefully.

Sans shook his head, “still trying to fix the machine guys.

“oh, i wasn’t talking about that, vanilla cone, and you know it.” purred Relsihs, his gaze growing heavily as he let his gaze linger on each skeleton.

They all shuddered and someone actually pulled the coffee table and her away from him, towards the others.

Relish laughed, even as his brother picked him up and placed him in his lap. Charmed spoke next, looking around, “SO, NEW HOUSE, NEW FRIENDS?” He grinned happily at the group facing him, “SO WHAT’S THE STORY?”

~*~

The guys explained how the decision to get a bigger house became a necessity and how they eventually found this place. They described their arrangement with Y/n, who was paid as their landlady, before going to talk about how things had really settled since moving in.

That part seemed to surprise the Lustbros the most, who couldn’t help but compare how things had been when they left.

“YOU GUYS WERE ONE MORE SHOUTING MATCH FROM SPLITTING UP AND GOING YOUR SEPARATE WAYS. DAMN THE MACHINE.” Charmed pointed out, focusing particularly on Edge and Black.

“i see some of the ones we last saw at that old place didn’t move in with you.” Relish said, looking around, “wnless they’re hiding elsewhere?”

“we’re it.” Sans said quickly.

Ink grinned mischievously, “For now.”

“It’s so weird to think of how you guys are really from a different universe!” Y/n exclaimed, “I have nothing but questions, for everyone!”

Relish and Charmed seemed to be taken aback, but both smiled widely, beaming in delight at her.

“my, aren’t you just the sweetest.” Relish cooed, his hand inching his way closer to her.

“SO WILLING TO HEAR OUR STORY AND HOW OUR WORLD WORKS!” Nodded Charmed, before his gaze drifted somewhere else.

“missing home, brother?” Relish asked, using his other hand to caress the underside of his brother’s chin, looking sad himself.

Charmed wrapped both arms around him, hugging his brother softly as he kissed the top of his skull, “WITH YOU SANS, I’M ALWAYS HOME.” he sighed heavily, “BUT I WILL ADMIT I’M- I’M MISSING OUR FRIENDS AND….LOVED ONES WE LEFT BEHIND.”

“MAYBE WE’D BE CLOSER TO GETTING HOME IF YOU AND THE OTHERS WEREN'T SO SELFISH AND LAZY!” snapped Black, “LEAVING ALL THE HARD WORK TO BE DONE BY US!”

“black-“ Sans started warning before Relsihs raised his free hand to stop him.

“that’s a fair point black, and i won’t deny it.” he lent forward, his grin widening, “but have you considered that there is no ‘going back’?”

Seeing Black’s (and other’s frowns), Relish laughed lightly, “we all have to do what’s best for ourselves. you think going back is in your best interest, so you’re fixing the machine. we think we’d rather explore the surface world while we get the chance, so that’s what we’re doing.”

“BESIDES, ME, MY BROTHER, AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO DIDN’T STAY BEHIND TO FIX IT, ALREADY GAVE UP OUR VOTES TO DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE MACHINE.” Charmed pointed out.

“Can we talk about something else?” Ink said, actually looking nervous, “The Creator is struggling against me right now, and I don’t want to see how much control they’re learned since the last time.”

Relish looked away from Ink to Sans, completely lost.

Sans just shook his head, “don’t ask. he’s either crazy or knows things about our reality that makes you think you’re crazy.”

“always fun, having your reality questioned.” Relish muttered to himself.

Before anyone could say anything, his hand was inching towards Y/n again, “so, what would you like to know about our world, little cherub?”

“Cherub?”

Charmed laughed, “OH, DON’T BE COY WITH US.”

“anyone can see how madly and quickly these guys have fallen in love with you.”

Y/n blushed, “You’ve got it wrong. That’s just Ink’s curse.”

She didn’t want to think about how romance options was no longer open to her. She was just gratefully that she could be friends with so many amazing monsters; who could ever want to date someone a tenth of their size?

“hmm.” Relish hummed, looking around at the others at her back, “i think not.” He bopped her on the nose, “but that’s also something you’re going to have to come to terms yourself, right love?”

“I CAN HELP WITH THAT!” Ink said brightly.

Y/n pointed a finger at him, “Don’t you dare!”

Ink pouted, sitting back down. Then something seemed to occur to him, because suddenly, he was smiling widely, “Okay then, I won’t do anything.”

Watching him bearly holding back giggles set every alarm bell off in her brain. Quickly, she pulled out her watch, all but certain the time had skipped a few minutes but, more importantly, what the next thing was going to be.

“What if Y/n was a skeleton??” she looked up, “Are-are you talking about killing me??”

“No, no….although, it is one of the suggestions.” Ink ignored her horrified look and everyone's glaring at him as he stared thoughtfully off into the distance.

“A SKELETON?” Charmed leaned forward, bring his brother along as he peered closely at her, “I GUESS I DO KEEP FORGETTING HUMANS HAVE SKELETONS INSIDE THEM. NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY THEY HIDE SUCH BEAUTY AWAY, BUT THEN AGAIN, SKIN DOES HAVE ITS APPEAL.”

“ohhh, she’s bound to have an adorable, sexy little skeleton inside of her.” Relish practically sang.

“Rather the magic back.” Y/n grumbled, before shuddering suddenly.

Looking down at herself, Y/n was alarmed to see nothing but bones under all her clothes. Touching her face quickly sounded out bone hitting bone, feeling the enjoying sensation of her bony hands scratching at her skull as she traced her face. As she traced her arms and legs, feeling everything she could and just marvelling at how the hell she was staying together, she missed the open jaws of everyone behind her.  Honestly, she might have missed it completely, is it wasn’t for Relish snickering.

Looking up, he grinned at her confusion before motioning with his finger for her to turn around.

What she saw was every eyelight focused on her, a light glowing rainbow blush across all their skulls.

Feeling self-conscious, she blushed and tried covering herself. Alarmingly, she blushed bright her favourite colour, lighting the air around her face.

“Oh geez!” She complained, burring her face, “Why do I have to have glowing blush too!”

“Because it’s cuter.” Ink teased as Relish and Charmed nodded.

She lifted her head high enough to glare at them, before reburying her face.

“Y/N?” Blueberry’s voice asked.

She peered up at him, surprised to see his blushing face right next to her.

“CAN-CAN I ASK FOR A HUG?”

“Um?” She looked to see the other guys leaning in, watching her very carefully, “I-I don’t think that’d be wise.”

“PLEASE.” he begged, making his eyes as large as he could.

Y/n felt her heart break, so she reluctantly agreed, walking over to his kneeling face to hug his cheek. Hugging his bony cheek wasn’t that different when she had skin; the only difference, as far as she could tell was nuzzling him created a nice, soothing sensation on her skull.

Blueberry pressed her into his cheek, hmm in delight before he laughed delightfull “MWEH HEH HE!” softy next to her.

“HEY!” Black complained, shoving his face over Blueberry’s shoulder to stare angrily at her, “WHAT ABOUT ME?! WHERE’S MY HUG?!”

“I WOULD ALSO LIKE A HUG!” Papyrus added, his voice sounding close to tears.

A hand grabbed her from Blueberry’s cheek and she was lifted high, away from everyone else. “BACK YOU CREEPS!” Edge said, before bringing her to his chest, “SHE’S NOT YOURS!”

“I’m not yours either!” She complained, getting smooshed into his chest.

Edge ignored her as he backed slowly out of the room as everyone moved in closer to him. Even Relsih and Charmed stood up and joined the fun, their eyes alight with mischief.

“STAY BACK!” He snapped, backing up. “I’M WARNING YOU!”

He was promptly ignored as everyone kept their eyes on her.

Leaping the stairs three at a time, Edge ran for his room, with everyone hot on his heels.

~*~

Y/n found herself in the air vent much later, trying to stay was quite as she could while everyone looked for her. Time was her biggest fear right now because the watch said she could expect to be big again.

“That’s the same thing twice!” she hissed at Ink, who was once again small and walking alongside her.

Ink shrugged, not bothering to keep his voice low, “Do you have any idea how many Readers wanted to see you returned to normal size? Of course it was going to be in there at least twice!”

“Keep your voice down,” she snapped, looking frantically around for another blaster patrol, “And why the hell didn’t you just keep me big then?”

“More fun this way?”

Rolling her eyes, she ignored him.

Spying the exist to what she assumed to be the study room, Y/n made her way towards it, wondering how much time she had left.

Seeing the final seconds count down made her gasp in alarm, before running full tilt at the vent.

Only for the final second to tick over and for her to find herself normal size once again, with her front half busting out the vent and her back half trapped in the vent by her bony hips.

“Curse my wide hips!” she cursed, struggling to get free.

“well, well, well, look what we have here.”

Following the familiar shoes standing in front of her, Y/n looked up into the smug face of Mutt, grinning down at her.

“Mutt-“

He stopped her, crouching to place a finger to her lips. Listening, she heard what sounded like Papyrus and Blueberry fretting about her safety and how she would be much safer with them. Mutt and Y/n waited for them to pass, before Y/n let loose a long sigh of relief.

The last thing she needed was either of them trying to help her get free by pulling her arms….or for the others to be drawn in by their loud voices.

Still, that left Mutt here with her, and seeing as how he trapped her last time…

“Are you going to help or hinder me?” she asked, peering up at him.

Mutt pulled his hand away, looking at her thoughtfully. “what do you think?”

She answered honestly, “I think any number of things, especially considering your track record with me.” She took a deep breath, “But I hope for something better. For us to be on better terms one day, small steps at a time.”

“is that a joke at your own expense?” He asked, looking at her surprised.

“….Honestly? The fact that I’m trapped because I’m too big and now I want to be smaller again is already joke enough, don’t you think?”

Mutt grinned, chuckling. Hearing him laugh, actually made Y/n crack a smile, momentarily forgetting her predicament. When she felt a hand on her bruised shoulder, she looked bach up at Mutt, wondering what he planed to do. Mutt watched her too, searching her expression very carefully.

Suddenly, she felt her non-physical stomach twist and vegito engulf all her sense, before, just as suddenly, it all went away and she found herself back on her feet with Mutt as her back, his arms wrapped around her.

“Umm…Mutt?” She asked, turning to look at him, “You-you planning to let me go anytime soon?”

Mutt shook his head, before breathing deeply along her neck that sent shivers up her spine and her cheeks glowing with her blush.

“you have a lovely blush.” he purred in her ear.

Blushing more and before she had any time to react more beyond that, the world went haywire once again and she suddenly found herself in the living room.

Twirling her so that she spun away from him, only to fall backwards onto the couch, Mutt called out to his brother, who was busy searching the DVD case, “i found y/n, m’lord.”

“AH!” Black hoped up and ran for her, leaping onto the couch and pinning her below him, a light purple glow on his cheeks. “MY PET RETURNS TO ME.” He purred with heavy eyelids.

“I’m not your pet.” She pushed herself up, meeting his face defiantly despite her blush, “And I’d be careful what you say to me, Black. I’m big enough to punch and bite you a lot harder now.”

“IS THAT SO?” he asked with a drawl, refusing to move back an inch.

Y/n pressed her face as close as she could to Black’s without actually touching him, “Careful Black. I fight dirty.”

“And What If I Like Dirty?”

“Last chance Black.” she breathed.

His grin sharpened predatorily, “TRY IT, PET.”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Y/n dropped back to the couch, shrugging, “Whelp, can’t say I didn’t warn you.” Then she tried the same trick twice in so few hours, “PAPYRUS!!”

“Y/N?!” Came his response as Black flinched.

Soon, the living room was crowded with skeletons as everyone made their way back to the living room as fast as they could. Seeing this, Black dropped onto her, hugging her tightly.

“NO! SHE’S MINE!” He screeched.

“SHE IS NOT!” Blueberry cried, throwing himself onto the pile and struggling to push Black off, which quickly saw Papyrus and Edge coming in, trying to help. Soon, every skeleton was trying to spin her away from the others that she ended up on the floor, beneath a pile of skeletons as they all playfully wrestled.

“I can’t breathe!” She complained as every part of her back was nuzzled (including her posture, which she could name a few skeletons motivated to doing that.)

“you don’t need to breathe.” Sans replied, nuzzling her hand off to the side.

Ink’s shoes came in front of her, and she glared hatefully up at the smug bastard.

“This is your doing, you know!”

“Oh, don’t pretend you’re not having fun.”

“That’s not the point!” she said, ignoring the fact she had rather enjoyed playfully wrestling towards freedom, “Get me out Ink!”

“Certainly!” He waggled his eyebrows, “Just not how you think.”

“…..What the hell do you have in mind?”

He laughed, “Oh Y/n, this has never been what I have in mind.” He held out his phone, where (beyond having so many text threads going at once) the thing his phone was opened to read:

Bitty Hunt, Ideas/ The Box- Body Swap, ‘What if Y/n and the guys traded bodies?’

“Oh sweet Jeu-“

Y/n, and all the guys felt something inside them getting dragged out, like tuning out and leaving your body rapidly during a boring meeting. When her attention had been allowed to return, she found herself looking down at her own thigh, an orange hoodie sleeve covering her arms.

“what the?!” she exclaimed, as everyone quickly sat up too. When she said that, she sounded exactly like Stretch.

“oh stars!” Sans exclaimed, looking down at himself in horror, “it’s everything i ever feared!”

“WE’VE SWITCHED BODIES??” Charmed said, looking around and focusing on Y/n’s body, “Y/N, WHAT HAPPENED?”

“I’m not Y/n!” Her body exclaimed, “I’m Papyrus!”

“OH.” Charmed looked around the room, “WHERE DID Y/N GO?”

She almost answered, but something about the look that Red was giving her told her she wasn’t free just yet.

“brother?” Red asked, leaning in closer, “why-why do i want to hug you so badly?”

“YEAH.” Black said, gazing at her lazily, “HOLY HELL DO I WANT TO SNUGGLE THE ASHTRAY.”

Edge chuckled, “GUESS I KNOW WHO WOUND UP IN MY BODY.”

Sans gapped at Edge, “you’re in _my_ body??!”

Y/n never heard the response as, in the next instance, she was once again mugged, quickly becoming the bottom of the pile once more.

“guys!” she complained, “get off me!!”

“Never!” they happily said, resuming their snuggle feats.

~*~

Y/n and the guys shuffled body many times over before the next change came. It came just as one of the guys (Red, she was assuming) was posing sexily with her body and she slapped him with his own.

Only, the hand that slapped him was far more dainty and feminine than she had been expecting.

Her body gapped back at her.

She folded her arms and lectured him, “if you’re going to- why’s wrong with my voice?”

What was wrong was it was so much higher pitch than the gravelling voice she had just been using to lecture Red with his own body with. Looking down, Y/n was shocked to see her narrow hips were way larger now, her body feeling more familiar and feminine to her.

“GREAT!” snapped Blueberry in a feminine voice, folding her/ his arms, “NOW, NOT ONLY AM I CHILD, I’M A LITTLE GIRL!”

“hey!” complained Mutt, pouting, “i am not a little girl!”

“LOOK AT YOURSELF!”

“Oh, I love gender swaps!” Ink said happily, done taking photos of them playfully wrestling each other, “And I’ve already got access to all your new names!” He pointed around the room, “You’re Sara, Peyton, Silm, Berry, Scarlet, El, Pooch, Ebony, Saucy, and Enchanted!”

“THOSE ARE STUPID NAMES! AND I REFUSE TO RESPOND TO THEM!” Enchanted said, folding her arms.

Ink grinned, “Fine, but guess who’s typing it that way? Or, would you rather I call you by your name, El?”

Enchanted narrow her eyes at Ink, who grinned happily.

Y/n slapped at her own hand way as Red (Scarlet….or Y/n?) made to lean in her again, “okay, i’m tired of wrestling and we’ve only got two more hours to go. can we go back to all of you at least trying to keep your hands to your self?”

“Hmm I can also feel how tired the Creator is getting, so how about I offer we do the next one early?”

“I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE HERE FOR A FULL TWENTY-FOUR HOURS?” Peyton said, eyeing Ink distrustfully.

Ink waved his hand about in the air, “Yes? Remember how I said that it was twenty-four hours in Reader time?”

“SO, BASICALLY, YOU’RE-“

“I’m making shit up, yes.” Ink admitted

“why would we agree to this?” Y/n asked.

Ink shrugged, “I mean, it’s not like I need to ask permission here, but how about this,” He gestured to the room at large, “If you can figure out who is in whose body, I’ll ‘go home’ early?”

“what keeps us honest?” Saucy asked, leaning back lazily.

Ink thought about it, “Hmm….ever played ‘Murder’?”

“MANY, MANY TIMES.” Berry said darkly, summoning a bone weapon, “AND I’M ABOUT TO ‘PLAY IT AGAIN’.”

Ink waved her off, “Not like that. It’s a game where you’re trying to guess who the ‘murder is.”

When he got nothing but a mix of blank and disinterested expressions, he sighed, “Nevermind. How about instead, if someone guesses who you are, you have to answer a question, truthfully?”

“I REFUSED TO PLAY THIS IDIOTIC GAME!” Enchanted scoffed, folding her arms and looking away.

Suddenly, Enchanted's phone went off and, beyond looking surprised, Enchanted patted herself down, trying to find the phone.

"LEFT RIB, DARLING." Eboy smiled helpfully.

“Don’t worry Edgy, it’s for you.” Ink winked at Enchanted, sitting back to watch.

Rolling her eyes, Enchanted eventually pulled out her phone and read a message, her eyes growing larger with every word.

“I WANT TO PLAY FOR NO SUDDEN REASON!” She eventually cried out, sitting down in a huff.

“Boss?” Her body asked Enchanted, sitting next to her.

Enchanted ignored her.

“what happens if we win?” She asked Ink, turning to face him, “can we even win?”

“Of course you can win! What fun is there if you can’t win?”

“I don’t know,” mumbled her body, “I feel like we’re playing a rigged game right now.”

“You are, but that’s beside the point.” Ink gestured for everyone to sit down, waiting for them to do so. Only Berry refused to sit down, but after reading a text sent to her phone, quickly joined the group, a light blue blush across her cheeks.

Ink rubbed his hands as he explained, “Right, so your next change is that you have to speak the truth. It will be physically impossible to lie. I’m thinking of using that change to make it so that you get to ask each other questions and try to guess whose in whose body. Once some guess correctly, the person who guessed correctly gets to ask the person they correctly guessed any question they want. If you guess wrong, you have to divulge information about who you really are.” Ink grinned at them, “You have to get, well, there’s eleven of you, so let’s say, past three rounds, that is, if you want me to go early.”

“EASY ENOUGH,” El pointed to her, “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

“Yeah, no/” Ink said, folding his arms and looking crossly at El, “No asking questions about names.”

“EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS IT’S ME!” Enchanted snapped, before gesturing to her body, “AS WELL AS THAT’S REALLY MY BROTHER,” she pointed to her, “AND THAT’S Y/N!”

“Then I’ll just initiate another shuffle again! Why are you poking holes into this??" Ink complained. "Geez!"

“but everyone’s going to know it’s me, no matter how many times you shuffle me!” she complained, folding her arms as she eyed skeletons leaning automatically towards her, “just look for the skeleton everyone’s staring at.”

Ink sighed, then pulled out his phone, tapping something on his screen.

Just like that, everyone sat back up, looking surprised.

“There!” he huffed, putting away his phone, “No more pheromones. Now, if there are no more nitpicks?”

“ACTUALLY-” Peyton started saying.

“Too late!”

Ink grabbed the comically sized paintbrush from his back and smacked the ground in the middle of their circle, not only making her coffee table pop out of existence, but also shuffling Y/n and all the skeletons into their new bodies.

Everyone took a moment to reorganise themselves and acknowledge who they were, without being too obvious about it

“Now,” Ink grinned, rubbing his hands after putting his paintbrush away, “Who wants to go first?”

No one offered.

Sighing, Ink pointed to her body, “Reader goes first.”

“I’m not Y/n!” her body snapped.

Ink snickered, “I think you might have just outed yourself, but you get to ask your question first.”

“Oh,” she pointed to El, “Act like the true owner of that body!”

“I WILL NOT DEMEAN MYSELF TO ENTERTAIN YOU!” El snapped, looking away with a scowl.

Everyone gapped at her.

“Th-that was pretty spot on.” Ink admitted, looking impressed.

“Not it was not!” Y/n’s body snapped.

“El, since you got asked a question, you can go next.” Ink said, ignoring her body.

“SURE,” she pointed to Y/n's body, “ARE YOU EDGE?”

Her body spluttered as a glowing blush crossed her cheeks. “I-I thought we weren’t allowed to ask questions like that!”

“You are if you think you know who they are.” Ink grinned.

“But I haven’t even been asked a real question yet!”

“I do believe the question was-“

“Yes, I’m Edge!” she snapped, folding her arms crossly.

Everyone snickered.

“SO, THAT MEANS I GET TO ASK ANY QUESTION RIGHT?” El asked

“Correct.” nodded Ink.

El grinned, “Edge, what is hidden under your bed?”

Y/n’s blush exploded, and frankly, it was a bit embarrassing seeing her body was capably blushing that brightly. In defiance, Edge covered her mouth, refusing to speak.

“Oh Edge, I wouldn’t do that.” Ink crowed, “Not unless you want to start babbling non-stop about all your secrets.”

“I have romance novels under my bed!” she shrieked.

There was stunned silence.

“YOU HAVE WHAT?” Berry asked.

Y/n’s body ignored her in favour at pointing to El, “I know you’re Y/n! How else could you possibly know to ask that question, unless you’re a snooping housemate!?”

El looked to Ink, “DO I HAVE TO ANSWER THAT?”

Ink shook his head, “Nah, but I guess it’s a good thing we’re all going to forget this.”

“I’ll never forget this!” her body vowed.

“Moving on,” Ink gestured to Enchanted, who was on the other side of her fuming body, “Enchanted, ask away.

“SURE!” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, before grinning and asking Saucey, “TELL ME WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE SEX POSITION IS.”

Saucy blushed and sank deeper into her feathered jacket, “that’s um, that’s not a polite question to ask….darling.”

“Oh come on!” her body complained.

Enchanted's grin grew predatory, “I THINK I’VE DISCOVERED YOUR LITTLE SECRET, VANILLA.”

Sweating now, Saucey looked around the room. “paps! tell us your favourite pun.”

Peyton folded her arms, looking cross at her, but when she tried talking, her mouth wouldn’t move.

“Can’t lie, remember?” Ink beamed.

Narrowing her eyes at him, Peyton eventually sighed, and admitted, “TACO ABOUT A FIESTA!”

Everyone tried holding back their true reactions, least thy out themselves with their own reaction.

“Wow, you guys are really bad at this game!” Ink gestured to Peyton, “Alright, your turn.”

“ARE YOU SANS?!” Peyton blurted out, pointing to Enchanted

Enchanted sighed deeply, before nodding.

“YESSS!” Peyton cheered.

“Now you get to ask a question.” Ink pointed out.

Peyton stopped in mid-fist-pump. “OH, UM….” she snapped her fingers, “TELL US WHERE YOUR MOST SENSITIVE SPOT IS.”

Enchanted groaned, sinking even deeper into a valley of blue feathers around her neck.

“…..be-behind my jawline. just-just under my ear hole.” she murmured.

Judging by everyone snickers, Sans was probably thankful that there was some hope everyone would forget this.

“Your turn, Scarlet.” Ink said, rather enjoying himself.

“sure,” Scarlet's eyes drifted over to Saucy as she began to feel herself up, “tell me the sexiest thing you find about this body.”

As Ebony narrowed her eyes at her, Saucy just looked confused. “you’re, um….your bone structure?”

“that’s not something i, i mean, saucy would say.” Scarlet purred coyly.

She turned to Pooch next to her, caressing her chin, “your turn dear. go on, ask me anything.”

Y/n shuddered as the sensation and, frankly, expertise of the caress travelled all along her spine. Still, she found she did have a question her. “where have you been, since getting pulled to the surface?”

Scarlet laughed brightly, “all over the world! it’s part of the reason me and my….sister never stayed with everyone else.” her eyes softened, “more fun to see the world, while we can.” she straightened, “now, i do believe it’s my turn to ask a question.” she pointed to peyton, “you, are obviously thirsty boy blue, are you not?”

“i am not ‘thirsty’!” Peyton cried out, blushing.

“but you are blueberry?” Scalet smirked.

A look of dread came over Peyton.

“i’ll answer any question that’s not hers!” she cried out, looking trapped.

“Sorry Boy Blue, them be the rules.” chuckled Ink.

“now, blue, if you will,” Scarlet’s eyes glowed, “exactly how much porn do you masterbate?”

El chocked hard, blushing bright red, but she had nothing on the pink Peyton exploded into, her eyes darting around the room.

“we’re waiting, dear.” Scarlet sang.

aAbout…about every other day.” Blueberry sat up taller, “it-it helps me sleep and relax! th-there’s nothing wrong with mastabation! it’s perfectly healthy to do!”

“i never said it was a problem, blue.” Scarlet’s eyes softened, “I know you kinda forced you, but you were….brave to come out and say it like you did. to defend yourself proudly.”

“i wouldn’t call it pride.” Blueberry mumbled, looking into her lap.

“neither would i!” snapped Sara, not looking at anyone in particular, “find a partner if you have needs!”

“You want to go next ‘Sara’.” Ink suggested.

Sara sat up, then thought better about and slouched back, “so, i’m sans or whatever, and i’m going to ask ebony, what she thinks of her body.”

“i think the shorts are really wedged right up in my coccyx, and that someone might be compensating for something.”

“how dare you!” Sara screamed, rising to her feet.

Ebony grinned smugly, “and guessing how smooth you handed that, i’m going to just point of the fucking obvious and say you’re black.”

Sara gapped at Ebony, before turning away to kick the couch, “admn it!”

Ebony chuckled, “so, my question, to you, black, is, what fanfics are you typing up now?”

Y/n couldn’t help but gasp, quickly outing herself, but damn it, she didn’t see that one coming!

Black's cheeks swelled up as they burned blue. It was obvious she was struggling to not speak, but eventually, she burst out into a rant, “right now, i’m working on my epic masterpieces in darksouls, but i’ve also been spending most of my times shipping the obviously superior relationship that is vald and ellen.”

“Is-isn’t that a vampire show?” Ink asked.

Y/n cried out in shock, “oh my god! you’re a shipper?!”

“i am -!!” Black started saying, only for the words to die in her throat.

Everyone burst out in laughter, howling.

Storming out of the house, Black left for the backyard.

“And with that, very revealing note, I think it’s time for me to leave.” Ink looked around the room, fondly, “Honestly guys, it’s been a lot of fun, but part of me does wonders if the Readers can guess who you are.”

Saucy shrugged, “s’not our concern what your ‘readers think.”

“I think it is,” Ink grinned, “after all, there’s always next year.”

“you ain’t coming back next year!” Ebony snapped.

Ink laughed, and was still laughing as he walked outside, everyone following him out. He made his way over to the ink puddle (where Black was attacking a dummy viciously) with the biggest grin he had ever worn.

When he stood in the spot that the ink puddle used to be, he waved, “I just know, next year will be even better!”

Then he was gone, in a cloud on ink splatters that landed on the ground without staining the grass.

There was a pause.

“Why are we still females and in each other’s bodies!” Her body huffed.

El patted down her shirt, before a look of understanding came over her and she walked over to Slim’s body, digging into the hoodie’s pockets.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO STRETCH’S LADY BODY?” Slim asked, concerned.

El shrugged as she searched, “LOOKING FOR SOMETHING.”

Finding it, El pulled out a little device and move over to the spot Ink was just standing. She waved the device, backwards and forwards, before looking down at the screen.

“…..IT’S JUST ABOUT GONE.”

“How much longer?” Saucy asked.

El shrugged, “I SAY WE HAVE ABOUT-“

 

Next chapter is called: The full shopping experience


	18. The full shopping experience

Ever since that night, things were tense between Black and Mutt.

On the surface, everything seemed fine between them. Mutt returned when Black called him, smoking a plain cigarette, and nothing was said beyond good night between them before sleeping on their own couches. Y/n thought for sure Mutt would have at least acknowledged her in some knowing way or refuse to look at her because maybe he was feeling guilty, but no, he just nodded towards her way before rolling over on his armchair.

Y/n went to sleep that night wrestling with feelings of violation, conflicting emotions and reined in anger; only Black’s request stopped her from going over to Mutt and kicking him awake or something.

In the morning, the two were acting like they always did; with Mutt the silent shadow and Black the driving force that dictated both their wants. It wasn’t any different to how they acted when the others were around and would certainly not have raised any suspicion that things were tense between the two.

Only, she remembered what they had been like yesterday morning, when they had been alone without the others watching. There had been a relaxed, brother bonding moment as they actually talked to each other like brothers rather than as a master to his obedient servant. Without seeing that, Y/n could have easily believed that there was nothing wrong and would certainly not have noticed anything was amiss between the two brothers.

Their house took another two full days to build up to the point where they could at last buy furniture. Black had just come in from checking that the walls were dry from all the painting they did yesterday and he was eagerly rubbing his hands as he announced the news to the table at large as everyone was eating breakfast.

“DOES THAT MEAN YOU’RE PLANNING ON GOING FURNITURE SHOPPING TODAY?” Blueberry asked, trying to keep his tone casual.

“IT DOES.” Black glared at him, “AND YOU’RE NOT COMING!”

“BUT WHY?! YOU SAID YOU’D THINK ABOUT IT!”

“AND I DID! I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, THEN I THOUGHT ‘NO!’.”

“It wouldn’t hurt if you brought some of the others along with you.” Y/n pointed out, hoping she could convince him. Every day he spent talking and interacting with the others was a day he got better socialising.

“I’M BRINING YOU ALONG.” Black pointed out, “YOU SAID YOU WOULD GO WITH ME!”

“An-and I will. It’s just, it wouldn’t hurt to have a second opinion. Another person there to make it more fun. Think about how nice it’s been working on the house, Black?“

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before leaning in towards her, narrowing his eyes, “YOU SEEM VERY ADEREMANT ABOUT BRINGING ALONG SOMEONE ELSE. THIS WOULDN’T BE ABOUT YOU BRINGING ALONG SOMEONE BECAUSE YOU DON’T TRUST ME YET, WOULD IT?!”

Y/n saw the look of pain that swept through his eyes under the anger.

She sighed, rubbing her hands nervously. “N-no, but you should know that I’m, um, I’m still a little freaked out about leaving the house, Black.” she admitted, hesitantly.

“YOU WENT TO THE BEACH WITH THE OTHERS AND DIDN’T SEEM TO HAVE ANY PROBLEMS.” he pointed out, not looking convinced.

“That’s not entirely true; I freaked out when we were leaving the house.”

And that fear had turned into a numbness for the rest of the day the further they travelled to get to the beach.

“EXACTLY! YOU HANDLED THAT PRETTY WELL IN THE END, DESPITE YOUR SUPPOSEDLY ‘FREAKING OUT’ AT THE BEGINNING.” Black waved a hand, dismissively, “BESIDES, THE FURNITURE STORE I’VE PICKED OUT IS MUCH CLOSER THAN THE NEAREST BEACH, SO YOU SHOULD BE EVEN BETTER WITH OUR TRIP!”

She sighed again, before gesture to him imploringly, “Look, all I’m saying is, if you’re going to do this, why not bring someone along who can help you shop? Another person to give an outside perspective on things is never going to hurt.”

Black continued to glare at her for a moment, before he straightened and looked around the table.

“SO, WHO WANTS TO COME ALONG WITH ME AND Y/N?”

“I DO-!“

“NOT YOU!” Black snapped at Blueberry, who sat down in a huff.

“I WILL!” Papyrus said, beaming, “I HAVE, AFTER ALL, VERY EXCELLENT TASTE AND ADVICE THAT I’M MORE THAN WILLING TO SHARE!”

Black rolled his eyes and looked around the table, “ANYONE ELSE?”

“i’ve got things i need to do today.” Sans said, looking up from his newspaper with bags under his eyes, “so that’s a pass from me.”

“it’s a ‘hell no’ from me.” Red glared at his plate as he shuddered, “i can think of a fuck ton of things i’d rather do than spend a whole day shoppin’.”

Stretch stuck up his hand, surprising everyone.

“PA-PAPPY?!” Blueberry exclaimed, his jaw open.

Stretch grinned, “what, is it so hard to believe i want to go furniture shopping?”

“Yes!” exclaimed everyone at the table.

Stretch laughed, “fair enough.”

“Why are you going?” Y/n asked, as shocked as everyone else, “N-not that I’m saying you can’t come, of course.”

“I MIGHT SAY THAT.” Black said, narrowing his eyes at Stretch, “IF HIS ANSWER DOESN’T PERFECTLY SATISFY MY SUSPICIONS!”

Stretch drained the last of his coffee, before looking fondly over at her, “y/n here asked for help finding a new dining room table and couches. i figured i’d try my hand with helping with that again.”

“Oh!” It was true that she still needed to buy those things, it was just surprising to her that Stretch would actually offer to help with that….considering the effort he and Red put into it last time.

Still, she wasn’t one to argue, so she smiled back. “Welcome aboard Stretch.”

He playfully saluted her.

“I STILL DON’T TRUST HIM.” Black turned to Edge, “AND WHAT ABOUT YOU? ARE YOU PLANNING OF INFLICTING YOUR ‘OPINIONS’ ON ME AS I AM FORCED TO BE NICE?”

“AND BE IGNORED WHILE YOU MAKE HIDEOUS DECORATION DECISIONS?” Edge kept reading his own paper, “I’D RATHER GO INTO GRILLBYS.”

Papyrus gasped, “EDGE! DON’T SAY SUCH THINGS!” He shuddered, “IT MIGHT JUST COME TRUE!”

“IT’S STILL BETTER THAN MUFFET'S!” Blueberry exclaimed with his own shudder.

Black shuddered too, and was about to add something when Papyrus spoke up.

“SO I GUESS THIS MEANS WE’RE TAKING MY CAR? YOU KNOW, BECAUSE WE ALL CAN’T FIT IN YOUR MOTORBIKE?”

He certainly seemed very pleased and a touch smug with the idea.

Black, however, did not.

“CERTAINLY NOT!” He pointed to Papyrus and Stretch, “YOU TWO ARE TAKING WHATEVER SAD VEHICLE YOU THINK WILL GET YOU THERE. Y/N, MUTT AND I, WILL BE TAKING BE TAKING MY OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR MOTORBIKE!”

Everyone stared at him.

“WHAT?”

“how do you expect y/n to ride with you black?” Sans asked, watching Black carefully.

Black grinned, “WHY, SHE WILL SIT IN MY HELMET! OF COURSE!”

“safely.” Sans emphasised.

“BUT THAT IS SAFE!” he gestured to Red, “HE DID THE SAME SORT OF THING WHEN THEY WERE WELDING!”

“we weren’t welding at breakneck speeds, black!” Red exclaimed bitterly.

“DETAILS!”

Sans sighed exasperatedly, before looking over towards her direction. “it’s your decision kid. i would argue that paps’s car is the safest option, but then….you weren’t exactly strapped in.”

“EXACTLY! WITH ME, SHE WILL AT LEAST BE FAR SAFER!” Black said, looking at her like the case was already settled.

She sighed heavily, trying to buy some time as she thought.

“…….Okay.” She pointed at him, “But if this doesn’t work or I want to go back in Papyrus’s car, you’re going to respect that decision, right?”

Black grinned, “OF COURSE.”

~*~

Y/n was sitting on Black’s leather jacket as he gave Papyrus the address of where he was heading with Mutt at his back, waiting for him to make his way to his motorbike.

“Why not just have him follow you?” she asked as Papyrus and Stretch made their way to his car, as Blueberry watched sulkily from the front doorstep.

Black scoffed, “LIKE HE COULD KEEP UP!”

“…….Just how fast do you plan to go?” She asked, very tightly.

“AS FAST AS I DAMN WELL-“

“No!”

He stared at her.

Y/n folded her arms, “I refuse to be in any vehicle that doesn’t perfectly observe the road rules!”

“THAT’S HARDLY ANY FUN! WHEN I RIDE, I LIKE TO PRESS MY MOTOR SKILLS TO THEIR-“

“My family died in a car crash, Black!”

That shut him up.

“If you like doing shit like that, go to a track, enter tournaments, hell, build a dirt track if the woods! You will NOT endanger other people’s lives or our lives by doing shit like that on the road!”

She-she-……she couldn’t handle this!

Y/n stared shaking, taking deep breaths as a panic attack began to flair that made her ear scream a high pitch white sound and her vision fade at the edges. The stress of leaving, Black’s reckless disregard for what happened every day on the roads, the memories of finding out such an event had happened to her family.

Identifying the bodies.

As quickly as the panic came, crippling her, it was just as suddenly starting to ebb away slowly. Something was soothing her, easing her fear and replaced it with a sense of calm and strength. The strange thing was, however, that under all of that soothing effect that wasn't coming from her was a deep sorrow filled with remorse and bitter self-loathing ….and a desperate desire to never be alone.

She looked over to see that Mutt had placed his hand behind her, careful to keep from touching her with his softly glowing green palm.

“perhaps we should go now, m’lord.” He said, taking his hand away and placing it firmly in his jacket when she looked around at him.

Black looked shocked at his brother, before he narrowed his eyes at him and nodded, turning to lead the way over to his motorbike, side-car ready to go. As Mutt climbed in the side-car, lighting up a dog treat quickly, Black was holding up his helmet, looking at her with a wide grin.

“NOW, IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO PRESS YOURSELF TO MY CHEEK AS I STRAP THIS HELMET IN PLACE.”

Still confused about exactly what happened and the sheer speed she had gone from panic attack to feel perfectly fine, she eyed the helmet in Black’s hand before looking back at him. “I-I want your promise that you will be the model of a perfect biker, Black.”

He lowered the helmet a touch, “SEEING HOW YOU…REACTED, I WILL, OF COURSE, DRIVE SAFELY. YOU HAVE MY WORD.”

“Thank you.” She said sincerely, smiling softly before looking at the helmet again, “But that’s rather small, isn’t? It looks like it’s going to be a tight fit.”

His grin grew, “THEN I SUGGEST YOU PRESS YOURSELF IN EXTRA TIGHTLY.”

Rolling her eyes, she did as was asked, trying to ignore her own blush as Black’s cheek glowed a light purple under her. Taking extra care when slipping the helmet over her, Black strapped the helmet in place and peered at her, the one eye close to her darting down to look at her.

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

With the helmet in place, Y/n found there was space enough to sit by Black’s cheek and mouth, where his jowl would have been if he had flesh. The safety foam of the helmet provided a nice seating place, but it wasn’t as comfortable as it could have been.

“A little cramped, but I’ll make do.” she replied, looking out the front of the helmet and could see what Black could see.

Nodding, Black kicked started the motor with a roar before speeding off out the exit, down her dirt driveway and out onto the open street.

“Black!” she warned.

He immediately slowed down and she saw the glow of his eyes roll around in circles behind her.

“DRIVING THE SPEED LIMIT IS SO BORING!” he complained with a huff.

“Yet, you’re going to, right?”

“…..*SIGH* I PROMISED, DIDN’T IT?”

Smiling softly, her eyes drifted over to Mutt in the sidecar, who seemed to have no trouble smoking as he wore his worn helmet. He seemed content with watching the world zip past him, but Y/n couldn’t help but think back to what she had felt and what that had meant exactly.

~*~

Black was a chatty driving companion and seemed to love having someone actually converse with him.  She had great fun listening to him talking/ bragging about his various stories and actually discovered he had once actually held the title of Captain of the Royal Guard. From what she could tell, he had been in charge during rougher times, but he seemed to find pride in all his stories of him winning against impossible odds. He especially seemed to like answering her questions and she, in turn, had fun learning more about Black’s past as Captain. Talking to him made the journey seem like it had taken no time at all and helped distract her from her growing fear and feeling on unsettlement. Like she was forgetting something so very important back home. If she had to equate the feeling, it was like she trying to remember if she had blown out all the candles she had left by her books or not.

“YOU SEEM REALLY TENSE.”

Y/n was taken out of her thoughts as Black finished locking up his motorbike in the mall’s carpark as Mutt stood off to the side, waiting.

“I told you Black; I get super nervous when I’m out of the house.” She whispered, wringing her hands.

Black turned to face Mutt, “MAYBE-“

Mutt walked passed them, heading towards the front entrance.

Black frowned.

“Black?”

He looked over at her briefly before following his brother. “MAYBE YOU’LL GET BETTER AS THE DAY GOES ON.” he said, flatly.

“I hope so.” she muttered, eyeing the bitty leash laws signs as they walked through the glass sliding doors.

Papyrus, Stretch and Mutt were inside waiting for them by the mall’s front entrance map.

While Mutt was eying the nearby humans with indifference, Stretch looked up from his phone and waved at them as he leaned against the map while Papyrus was intently studying it.

“hey black. hey y/n. nice to see neither of you got helmet hair.”

While she snickered, Papyrus turned around and waved energetically. “Y/N! BLACK! IT GREAT TO SEE YOU MADE IT HERE WITH NO TROUBLES!”

“YOU SAY THAT LIKE YOU EXPECTED THERE TO BE TROUBLE.”

“NO,” Papyrus corrected Black with a genuine smile, “I SAY THAT AS SOMEONE WHO IS JUST GLAD YOU MADE IT HERE WITH NO TROUBLE.”

Black rolled his eyes even as some of the tension left his shoulders, and soon, he was making his way to stand next to Papyrus.

“IT LOOKS LIKE ALL THE FURNITURE STORES ARE AT THIS END OF THE MAP.” Papyrus said, pointing to them, before pointing up, “BUT FOR BASIC HOME SUPPLIES, WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO TO THIS END.”

“I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO BE A BIG DAY!” Black grinned, rubbing his hands in delight at the idea of nothing but a whole day of shopping.

Mutt didn’t react while Stretch gave an audible groan.

“YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE SIGNING UP FOR!” Black snapped at him.

Stretch merely raised his hands up, “easy black.”

“What first?” She asked, ignoring the anxiety in her stomach that was making her nauseous.

“WE’RE HEADING TO THIS STORE FIRST!” Black proclaimed, pointing to it on the map, before turning to lead the way. Papyrus quickly caught up with him, walking by his side with a huge smile.

Y/n, meanwhile, was trying her best to combat the fear while keeping her eyes open for anyone who might seem inclined to point out she lacked a leash. As such, she kept moving about Black’s shoulders, much to his annoyance.

“WHY ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO FIND A PLACE TO SIT?” He asked as she tried tucking herself in amidst his bandana.

“IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING TO FIND A COMFORTABLE SPOT Y/N, I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A SNUGGLY SPACE IN MY SCARF.” Papyrus offered as a light blush came over his cheeks.

“MY BANDANA IS PLENTY SNUGGLY!” Black cried out indigently.

Patting Black’s shoulder, Y/n sat down and tried using one of Black’s bandana ends to cover her lap, “Guys, I’m okay here.” She smiled softly as Papyrus, “Though, it’s nice of you to offer.”

“BUT OF COURSE!” He beamed, posing proudly, “WE CAN’T HAVE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE Y/N; AFTERALL, WE HAVE A FULL DAY OF SHOPPING TO LOOK FORWARD TO!”

Walking by Mutt’s side behind them, Stretch was careful to not say anything, even if she couldn’t help but notice his shoulders sag a little.

She was still smiling when Black marched into the furniture shop he had been heading for, strolling up to an employee that was working the front information desk.

“YOU, EMPLOYEE SLAVE, I REQUIRE AN ORDERING FORM SO THAT I MAY PURCHASE YOUR BEARLY ACCEPTABLE FURNITURE AND HAVE IT DELIVERED TO MY HOUSE, FREE OF CHARGE, OF COURSE.”

‘Damn it Black!’ She cursed, watching the employee look between the group with mild fear in her eyes. The last thing she needed today was to be the focus of any employee’s attention!

The only saving grace was that, as she watched the employee take in all of their appearances, what became obvious to everyone watching her was how Black stood out in the group; her eyes would flicker across the skeletons face and would keep flicking down to Black, the odd, short man out.

As she did this, Stretch started snickering behind his hand as he looked away and Black’s shoulder hunched more with every passing flicker.

“MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAND US OUR FORM NOW?” Papyrus said after a polite cough.

“Oh!” The employee blushed as she quickly ducked down and handed them a form on a clipboard, her hands shaking.

Black snatched it out of her hands and was looking it over with a scowl, leaving Papyrus to say, “THANK YOU” to the scared employee lady.

She backed up, that professional smile of her twisting with fear, “If-if you need a-anything, my-my name’s Pam.”

“BUT YOUR NAME TAG SAYS-“

She covered her name tag and fled, speed walking away from them without a backwards glance.

Scoffing, Black strolled off towards the kitchen section, clipboard held up behind his back.

“I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THIS STORE’S WARES ARE NOT AS SHODIE AS ITS EMPLOYEES.” He said, opening up a fridge and peering inside before slamming it shut.

“I’M SURE SHE’S JUST NEVER MET SO MANY HANDSOME SKELETONS BEFORE.” Papyrus beamed, tossing his scarf behind him that somehow managed to keep flapping in the wind despite there being no breeze.

Stretch shrugged with a sly grin, “besides, it would be wrong to hold her too accountable for her fear. after all, we wouldn’t want to stoop to her level, would we?”

Black glared at him, before more quickly ahead and left him and the others behind.

“Everything okay Black?” She asked.

“IF I HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER SHORT PUN OR JOKE FROM HIM OR ANYONE ELSE MAKING ‘WITTY’ REMAKES ABOUT MY HEIGHT, I’M GOING TO START SUMMONING BLASTERS!”

“Those dog-skull things?”

He nodded briefly as he closely analysed different types of kitchen countertops, still scowling.

She laughed bitterly, “Black, I am literally the last person on Earth you can complain to about being short. Try being my size for just one day before you complain too much.”

He sighed heavily, looking over at her. “…….AT LEAST YOUR TALL WHEN COMPARED TO MOST OTHER BITTIES.”

“I’m also old compared to most other bitties.” Now it was her turn to sigh heavily, “Black, if you’re going to get upset with Stretch or any of the others make a pun, I’m afraid you're going to upset for a really long time, and quite frequently too. You need to find a better way of dealing with it.”

“I THOUGHT ME LEAVING WAS THE ‘BETTER’ WAY OF DEALING WITH IT!”

“When compared to Blasters, sure, but how about something more long-term and less antagonistic? Something friendly, but lets you hold your ground.”

He seemed to think that other, before grinning and heading quickly back to Papyrus, Stretch, and Mutt, clearly with a plan.

Papyrus looked up from the fridge he had been looking at over, grinning brightly as Black approached him and the others. “BLACK! Y/N! GLAD TO SEE-“

“HEY STRETCH!” Black called, walking right up to him and ignoring Papyrus, “I’VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO YOU!”

Stretch looked up from his phone, grinning, “ah, hello again you two. back in black, i can see.”

Mutt watched indifferently off to the side, leaning on a nearby fridge as he continued to keep an eye out on the nearby humans.

Black’s eyes quickly flickered over to his brother, before focusing his attention on Stretch, “I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT SMOKING IS REALLY BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH, ASHTRAY! NOT ONLY IS IT BAD FOR YOU, BUT IT ALSO HURTS PEOPLE NEAR YOU; SECOND-HAND SMOKE IS NOT A JOKE!”

“…..um, okay?” He looked confused as he met Y/n’s baffled expression, like she had any clue where that had come from, “noted?”

Black nodded, before grinning and leaning towards to him, “I’M ONLY BRINGING IT UP BECAUSE YOU ARE KILLING ME WITH YOUR SMOKING GOOD LOOKS!”

Stretch eyes got wide and wider as an amber blush grew brighter and stronger. Before long, Stretch had turned away to flip his hoodie up, hunching his shoulders.

Black laughed, triumphantly, “MWAH HAH HA!! AT LAST! VICTORY IS MINE!! MWAH HAH HA!”

She had never seen Black look so happy or Stretch blush like that! Soon, Y/n was laughing on Black’s shoulder at the sheer delight he was having, looking so pleased with himself.

Papyrus came quickly over (grinning himself) to pat Stretch’s back, “THERE, THERE STRETCH. I THINK YOU'RE EVEN MORE HANDSOME WITH THAT BLUSH OF YOURS!”

Stretch pulled the cords of his hoodie with a groan, shrinking the gap they all could see the amber glow coming from within his hoodie.

Mutt, chuckling, watched as Papyrus guided the embarrassed Stretch past him before knocking a bony fist on the fridge. “you need to learn how to chill, ashtray.”

Stretch’s head visibly dropped and even Papyrus failed to keep back a snort of laughter that escaped his control.

Black, could not have looked any happier.

~*~

Things after that became a lot less antagonistic and a lot friendlier as Papyrus and Black gushed about different furniture designs. The pair enjoyed debating various aspects of whatever piece of furniture they were currently looking at and Papyrus had actually managed to convince Black to change his mind on more than one occasion. Y/n, while still nervous and constantly aware at all time that she was not home, but here away from it, found enjoyment listening to the two of them chatting. That enjoyment was soon strong enough that she felt okay with leaving Black’s shoulder to parkour across the different items in the shop as the group moved through the store, feeling like she was actually participating in their conversations rather than was just some sort of living baggage.

Stretch had long since recovered from his embarrassment, and he and Mutt seemed to have fun making puns quietly to each other about whatever item Papyrus or Black were holding up. Of course, if the puns got too intolerable, Black would just grin at Stretch, who would clamp up, leaving him next to a snickering Mutt. The two of them seemed to enjoy the other’s company if the fact that they would normally set themselves up together somewhere in the new department as Papyrus, Black and sometimes Y/n would move about was any indication.

Soon though, they had gone through this entire store and Black handed in the filled out ordering form to the payment desk with an employee telling him dates he can expect the delivery on.

“NOW, ON TO ANOTHER STORE!” Papyrus cheered, as Black nodded his agreement, smiling broadly.

Y/n was sitting up on Papyrus's shoulder as they walked to the next store as a group. From here, she could see how her group was attracting many humans stares….and how few monsters there were. That last observation didn’t surprise her that much; the monsters mostly stayed in the town they had built on the base of Mt Ebbot. There was the nearby city to Mt Ebbot that had tried having the two races live harmoniously together, but last she heard, things had deteriorated ever since bitties had come into being. Monsters had left in droves rather than risk upsetting the humans further, although, Y/n had heard that there were still a few monsters who chose to stay put. Then there were monsters like these skeletons, who choose to expand out and beyond where the other monsters were. While travelling to Mt Ebott wouldn’t take more than a day, it was still a full day of travel.

Although, she had to admit she was attracting a few stares herself; since only monsters had permission to adopt bitties (and even then, not many did due in part to many humans’ open disdain at the very idea), she was rare among the already rare sight of monsters this far from Mt Ebott. That was working in her favour currently since most the employees and security offices she could see where too busy staring at her and her friends to enforce bitty laws she was breaking by not wearing a leash, but that didn’t stop her from hiding in amidst Papyrus's scarf. For the most part though, most of the humans were just doing their own thing; she could even hear a father yelling at his son somewhere in the background. However, the feeling of so many looking at her certainly didn’t help the now every present fear that was twisting in her gut.

“WE SURE ARE ATTRACTING A LOT OF STARES FROM THE HUMANS.” Papyrus noted, looking around.

“THEY’RE PROBABLY MARVOLOING MY PERFECTION AND ENVIOUS THAT THEY HAVE TO LIVE SAD LIVES AS BORING HUMANS!” Black said smugly, leading the group as he held himself taller.

Stretch and Mutt didn’t look as happy for all the attention, monster pride notwithstanding.

When they approached the next store, not only was it a commercially more popular one than the last store, but it was obviously one that had store policies in place for dealing with leashless bitties.

Next to the front register, next to the stiff smiling employee, was a rack of ‘complementary’ bitty leashes, complete with the store’s logo printed across them.

“hey paps? come over here for a second?” Stretch asked, moving to the side of the store and out of the employee sight.

“UM, SURE?” Papyrus followed as Black and Mutt went off to collect the store’s ordering form.

“i wanted to see if i could hold y/n for a while?” Stretch’s eyes focused on her, “you know, so she and i could help each other stay out of trouble?”

“STRETCH, YOU WERE’NT PLANNING ON GETTING INTO TROUBLE, WERE YOU??” Papyrus asked in disbelief, “WHAT WOULD YOUR BROTHER SAY??”

He shrugged with a sly smile, “oh, i’m sure he’d have quite a bit to say.”

While Papyrus narrowed his eyes at Stretch, he held a hand out to her, “what do you say y/n? wanna hang out with me for a while? it’s been a while since it was just you and me.”

“Um, okay.” Unwrapping herself from Papyrus’s scarf wasn’t helped by her nerves, the paranoid fear of an employee just wandering out with a leash in hand, and every instinct she had telling her to run and hide, but she managed it as she staggered over to Stretch’s outstretched hand on legs that shook. Once she was on his hand, he placed her on his shoulder, smiling lazily up at Papyrus, who was looking at her in such concern.

Bowing his head slightly and indicating his arm towards the store, Stretch asked him, “after you?”

Still looking very concerned, Papyrus nodded and headed towards the entrance, with Stretch behind him. As Stretch walked, he slowly flipped up his hoodie, glancing over at her and indicating towards himself with his head. Getting the message, Y/n made her way over into his hoodie, sitting on his shirt and tucking herself behind his neck as he moved to walk alongside Papyrus.

They walked right past the front desk without any trouble, and soon, they caught up with Black and Mutt.

“WHERE DID YOU THREE GO?” Black asked, turning away from the mattress he had been considering.

“thought i’d ask y/n to help keep me out of trouble and spend some time with me.” Stretch admitted, sitting on the edge of the mattress and testing its bounce.

Black was eyeing Stretch then Y/n, before looking over at his brother, whose focus seemed to be back at the front desk.

“WHATEVER!” He snapped, before moving on to the next bed.

~*~

The further away they got to the front desk, the better she felt (despite her ever-present fear and discomfort). Confined as she was to Stretch’s hoodie, Y/n couldn’t help but think there weren’t many better places to be trapped as she watched the others shop from Stretch’s perspective. Papyrus and Black, for the most part, ignored him, engrossed as they were in intense but respectable debates about this chair being better than that chair. When they feel into completive silence, reading various bits of information or taking measurements, Stretch was sure to fill the silence with a pun or comment that generally got the two of them talking right away as a means of preventing him from making another comment. His puns and jokes made the whole experience rather fun for Y/n, but it was seeing Mutt’s reactions to them that really got her.

He-he actually laughed at one point.

Well, it was a quick burst of laughter at the pun that finally got Papyrus and Black to snap at Stretch, but it was also the huge smile that followed.

He genuinely looked happy and no longer just indifferent. In all the time she had known him, over these short, (yet seemingly long) days, she honestly couldn’t say if she had seen him smile happily like that.

“what do you think about this couch set?”

Y/n was taken out of her thoughts to see Stretch pointing to yet another couch set.

“You can’t just point to every single couch and ask me what I think.” She sighed, exasperated, “I wanna hear what you think.”

“i think it’s a couch.” he said, cheekily.

Mutt’s snicker came from behind them and beyond her limited sight, but she was used to him lingering behind them at this point; this wasn’t the first smartarse comment from Stretch and it was bound to not be the last.

Papyrus and Black were still in the section behind them, debating about ‘THE PERFECT WARDROBE!’ (if their loud voice were anything to go on), so rather than wait, Stretch had taken the initiative and wandered ahead when he saw that the next section was.

And now he was tormenting her instead of them.

Still, it was a fun kind of torment as she played the part of the exasperated bitty; the straight man to his bit.

“I think you’re a smartass.” She shot back, grinning as he looked down at her from the corner of his eye.

Stretch and Mutt snickered as they moved on.

“Wait.” she called out, seeing something that actually caught her eye, “Can you have a look at that set?”

Stretch walked over to where she was pointing from with his hoodie. As he and Mutt started at the couch set with a couple of armchairs without much care, Y/n was looking at it critically and found she rather liked it. It had a nice build, nice colour, best of all, the whole set had plenty of seat pace left if everyone in the house were to take a seat! That, had been something she really wanted; the guys were a lot friendlier now, but space between them during movie night wouldn’t go amiss.

“This is the one.” She said confidently, before peering out and around Stretch’s hood to look at both skeletons, “what do you guys think?”

“think you should ask paps and black.” Stretch said as Mutt shrugged, “still, this thing looks like a soft place to crash, so that basically makes it perfect in my books.”

“Perfect! Let’s-“

There was yelling coming from behind them now; Black’s voice screaming out in outrage.

As they approached, it wasn’t hard to see what exactly it was that was making him so upset.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TWO HAD THE NERVE TO FOLLOW US!” He screamed at an indifferent Edge and a guilty Blueberry, “HOW DARE YOU!”

“WE DIDN’T FOLLOW YOU!” Blueberry quickly, “I, ER, I REMEMBERED THAT I NEEDED A NEW LAMP AND JUST SO HAPPENED TO COME HERE!”

“BULLSHIT!”

“WHY DID YOU COME TO THIS MALL?” Papyrus asked Edge, looking a touch frustrated, “AND HOW DID YOU GET ROPED INTO THIS??”

“YEAH!” Black spun around and pointed an accusing finger up at him, “YOU WERE INVITED! WHY WOULD YOU DECLINE, ONLY TO COME HERE ON YOUR OWN?!?”

Edge shrugged, “BLUEBERRY MADE A VERY CONVINCING CASE.”

“BLUEBERRY!” Papyrus cried out, spinning around to face him, “THINGS WERE JUST STARTING TO SETTLE AGAIN!”

“I KNOW THAT!” He wrung his hands, “BUT I-I REALLY, REALLY WANTED A NEW LAMP! THE ONE BACK HOME…BROKE.”

“well, they’re here now.” Stretch said, standing close to his brother and looking at Black, “and seeing as how they’re here, i figure the least they can do is make themselves useful. right black?”

Black eyes flickered between him, Blueberry and Y/n. “FINE!” He spat with his fits clenched at his side before turning away, marching off into the couch section with Mutt by his side.

Sighing, Y/n moved out from Stretch’s hood and lept for Blueberry’s shoulder.

“Y/N-!” He started to say happily before he saw her scowl.

“You weren’t invited Blue.”

His expression fell as the others moved to follow Black, “I-I KNOW, BUT….”

She waited.

Blueberry sighed heavily, before whispering to her, “BUT IT….HURT, TO NOT BE INVITED.” He glanced over at her, “I MEAN, SPECIFICALLY NOT INVITED. EVERYONE ELSE GOT AN INVITE! WHY NOT ME??”

“I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean you can just ignore people when they say something you don’t like.”

“I KNOW THAT!” He said quickly, imploringly, “BUT-!”

“No buts. You owe Black an apology, Blue.”

His shoulders dropped as he looked away from her. “……OKAY.” He mumbled.

Blueberry quickly caught up to the others looking around at all the couches, walking slowly over to Black, who stood up from sitting back on a couch as his approach, glaring hatefully at him.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT, YOU CHILD!” He snapped, folding his arms.

“I’M SORRY BLACK.” Blueberry said, struggling to look him in the eyes.

“SO YOU SHOULD BE!” Black leaned forward, “I SPECIFICALLY SAID THAT YOU WERE NOT INVITED!”

“BUT WHY?” Blueberry cried out, “WHAT DID I DO??”

“HOW ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ANYONE AND JUST DO WHATEVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE?! I FIGURED YOU’D DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! HOW GRATIFYING IT IS TO BE PROVEN RIGHT!”

“So, it was spite.” Y/n said flatly, looking at Black.

“OF COURSE IT WAS-“ Something about her face stopped Black in his tracks. Instead, he looked quickly off to the side, “……I ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY.”

Blueberry smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his skull guilty, “I….PROMISE TO STAY AWAY IF YOU DON’T WANT TO INVITE ME ALONG YOUR OUTINGS FROM NOW ON (NO MATTER HOW FUN THE SOUND).”

Black watched him carefully, “…..AND I GUESS I WILL STOP INVITING EVERYONE BUT YOU TO OUTINGS (EVEN IF I’M SURE THAT YOU’D TURN UP ANYWAY.)”

There was an awkward pause.

“This would be the part where you tell Blueberry what you’re looking for so he can help you?” Y/n said to Black.

He shook his head, “RIGHT!” His eyes shifted from her to Blueberry, “I’M LOOKING TO AN ELEGANT, MAGNIFICENT COUCH TO MATCH MY SPLENDOUR!”

Blueberry puffed out his chest, “THEN I AM JUST THE SKELETON FOR SUCH THE TASK! THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY IS THE EXPERT ON FINDING OTHER MAGINICFANT THINGS!”

“SINCE WHEN?!” Black cried out as he followed Blueberry, who was off, looking around.

“SINCE THE DAY I WAS BORN!”

“Hey! Excuse me?”

The group turned to see a man with the self-import air of a manager walking towards them, his eyes firmly locked on Y/n. “I’m afraid I must insist that your bitty wear their leash.”

“’fraid we forgot it for today.” Stretch replied cooly as he came to stand behind Blueberry’s back with Edge and Black glaring at the guy, coming to stand on either side of Blueberry and looking threatening.

The manager wasn’t persuaded, “Then you will need to collect one of our complimentary leashes from the front desk. Please follow me, sir.”

“WHAT IF WE HAVE NO INTENTIONS ON DOING THAT?” Edge asked, staring intimidatingly down at the manger over his nasal cavity. Blueberry looked nervously on while Papyrus wrang his hands, looking between the employee standing his ground to Edge and Black pressing forward.

“NOW, LET’S NOT-“ He began to say only for the manager to speak over him, taking a step towards Edge and Black.

“Then I will have to insist upon calling the bitty authority for bitty neglect and security to take you all away.”

Both Black and Edge summoned their weapons, pointing the tips of their sharp bone attacks at the manager, who took a step back, holding his hands in defence and sudden terror. Stretch held out his hands, blocking both Edge’s and Black’s advances on the guy, but the damage was already done.

“You-you’re not allowed to use magic in public!” He cried, “Se-securi-!”

In the next instance, Y/n felt a hand grab her from behind before the world fell away from her feet, leaving her falling once again endlessly, only for it to stop a moment later. Groaning and hanging limply for a bony hand, she looked warily up to see that it was Mutt that had her, standing in the middle of a food court much to the confusion to the nearby humans.

“M-Mutt?” she asked with a quivering that was coupled by both her fear of not being home and now her fear of what just happened.

He ignored her, choosing to place her on his shoulder instead as he made his way over to a nearby café.

“black coffee, that soda and that muffin.” He said to the startled barista behind the glasses off food display. She blushed before nodding quickly and ringing up his order. Mutt, in one smooth motion, pulled out a card from one of his jacket pockets and tapped it against the payment terminal before heading off towards an empty table away from the other customers, all without looking back at the flustered barista.

When he sat down with a sigh, Y/n lept for the table top, turning to look up at him, “We have to go back.”

“nope.”

“……..What do you mean ‘nope’?!”

“exactly what i said.” His eye lights looked away from taking in the nearby humans staring at them to look at her, “we, specifically you, are not going back there.”

“What about your brother and the others?” She began pacing, “They’re going to get arrested-“

Mutt tossed his phone onto the table, startling her out of her spiralling rant, “do you see any new messages?”

She looked down at his phone, noting the default wallpaper. “No?”

“then they’re fine.” He pushed his phone off to the side, watching as the barista came over with their orders, “trust me; this isn’t our first run-in with humans and it won’t be our last.”

“Y-your orders?” The barista announced as she stood off to the side of their table, looking between them confused as she placed his orders in front of him.

“thanks.” Mutt said, glancing at her as he slid the muffin and soda towards Y/n. Y/n was surprised by both these gestures; he even picked out her favourite drink.

The barista quickly bowed her head, blushed at having just done that, and turned on her heel and retreated back behind her post. Mutt didn’t seem to notice as he was already sitting back and enjoying his coffee, apparently indifferent to all the stares of the other customers.

Y/n looked from her drink with no straw and a cupcake that came up to her chest. “Um….Are these for me?”

A straw suddenly appeared in her drink as Mutt nodded, tossing an arm over the back of his chair as he continued to drink and dark orange magic faded from his eye.

“Thank you.” She tore off some of the cupcake and forced herself to eat some in awkward silence to be polite, before looking back at up him, “But I still would like to know why you took me away from the others if you think really there wasn’t going to be a problem.”

He didn’t immediately reply, taking his time having another sip. “…..couldn’t risk it.” Came his eventual answer.

“Risk what?”

Mutt slowly turned to face her fully, “you.” He leaned towards her, “you have a habit of making things….complicated. let’s just say i was erring on the side of caution, figured things would sort themselves out more peacefully if you weren’t and leave it at that, hmm?”

“Is-is this you actually caring about me?” She asked, confused.

He shrugged, “if you want to think of it like that. m’lord likes you, and i have no problem with that.” He shrugged again, “honestly, you not being there makes the situation easier for m’lord and that’s motivation enough for me.”

“Then what was this morning?” She asked quietly, watching his reaction.

Mutt stiffened. “what happened this morning?” He asked, meeting her gaze.

Her brow furrowed in confusion, “This morning? Your hand was glowing green and I felt….”

She trailed off; for once, his eyes weren’t looking at her with indifference now but instead gave a very clear, warning to drop this subject at once.

Feeling her fear intensify, Y/n found herself moving closer to her drink, tucking herself a bit behind it slightly and taking a couple of sips to calm her nerves.

Mutt sat back as he placed his cup on the table and fished out a dog treat from his jacket. The memory of a particular night came flooding into her mind as she watched him light up and take a long drag from it.

 _“HE-HE THINKS HE DOESN’T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM, BUT I KNOW BETTER! I REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS LIKE BEFORE THINGS STARTED DETERIORATING AT THE OLD HOUSE._ THOSE DOG _TREATS, HE NEVER USED TO SMOKE THEM THIS OFTEN. HE CAN PRETEND AS MUCH AS HE WANTS, BUT I KNOW BETTER! WHY ELSE IS HE SMOKING THEM THAT MUCH?! THAT’S WHY I’M ASKING, ON HIS BEHALF FOR ONCE!”_

“Why do you smoke those things?” She asked, quietly.

He shrugged, “i told you. stress and pain. what? you forget that night already?”

She felt a stab of irritation hit her before she noticed the sly grin tweaking at the corner of his mouth.

_‘He’s baiting me.’_

Why or for what reason, she had no clue, but if he was fishing for a reaction then she didn’t plan to give it to him.

“Are you even sorry about what you did to me?” She asked, exasperated.

The barista was eyeing the thick purple smoke and Mutt, obviously working herself to coming over to tell Mutt off, but a side glance from him as the purple smoke escaped his hooded sockets was more than enough to keep her back.

Chuckling, he turned his attention back to her, “not at all.”

Y/n’s shoulders sagged, “Not even a little bit?”

“sorry implies that I regret my actions. that if i could just go back, i might have done things differently.” He took another drag, smoke escaping hit fanged mouth like a coiling snake, “i wouldn’t have.”

She folded her arms, “Don’t you think I’m at least owed an apology?”

“certainly.” he agreed as he looked at her.

She waited.

“…..is this really important to you?”

“Only if you mean it.”

“and the fact that i don’t regret my actions doesn’t at all weaken the apology?”

“Of course it does.” She looked away, “But any acknowledgement from you, that you at least understand what you did to me was completely unfair, would go a long way to feeling like you don’t view me as some sort of pet you don’t have to give a shit about.”

Something seemed to pass through his eyes, twisting his expression briefly, before his face went back to his usual indifference. “then i guess i am sorry. for what it’s worth, i have no intentions of ever doing it again, no matter what.”

“Thank you.” She said sincerely, surprised by just how much that apology did make her feel better.

He grunted as he took a longer, deeper drag on the dog treat.

“Do you always smoke those things when things get emotional?” She asked, trying to brute force her way to figuring out the why for his smoking habit and not feeling inclined to dance around the issue with him.

Mutt chuckled, grinning wide, “so subtle.”

She shrugged, flashing him her own grin, “And now to watch you avoid answering the question.”

“notice that, have ya?”

“Notice what?”

Mutt actually laughed, surprising her that she got a laugh out of him before she found herself chuckling along with him, the pair of them smiling.

When he settled, Mutt put out the dog treat and tucked it back into his pockets, the smile still there.

“there, i stopped now. all gone.”

“You should just take up a healthier smoking habit like normal cigarettes with Stretch,” she said with a cheeky smile and eye roll.

He tapped at his chest where she could hear bone knocking on bone. “no lungs, no risks.” He leaned forward, towering over her with a sly grin, “i can also hold my breath for a really, really long time.”

“So you can be underwater forever.” She looked up at him, confused, “So what?”

“oh, i’m sure you can think of…other reasons that skill might come in handy.” He said with a wink.

It took a moment to see where he was going with that train of thought. When it hit her, her face exploded with blush and she quickly covered her face, much to his amusement.

“You’re horrible!” She cried out, mortified.

Mutt sat back, looking smug, “so i’ve been told.”

“You, Stretch and Red would make for an evil flirt team.” She waved her hand about dramatically, “A trio of sexy, flirtatious skeletons, roaming the countryside! There would be nothing but reports of people fainting all over the place.”

“so, you think we’re ‘sexy’ do you?” He asked, with a sly grin.

“I didn’t say sexy, I said flirtatious!”

He wagged his finger at her, “oh no, i definitely heard sexy.” He leaned forward, looking at her like a cat does to a canary, “and so the truth finally comes out, eh y/n?”

She gasped and blushed even more, covering her face again as Mutt chuckled and sat back looking pleased. To distract herself from her embarrassment, she quickly took a mouthful from her drink. She soon became aware that Mutt was looking at her, thinking. It was a far different look from the pleased smug look he had just a moment ago.

“What?”

He shrugged, “first time you haven’t been afraid since we left the house.”

“Do-do I look afraid?” She asked, rubbing her hands.

“….call it a ‘feeling’ i’m getting from you.”

She shrank in more on herself, “I-I didn’t use to be afraid of being outside.”

“’fraid of the bitty laws?” He asked, watching her.

She toyed with another piece of cupcake, “Honestly? The laws suck, but I’m not afraid of their facilities or even getting taken away. It’s just being away from the house that… really gets to me.”

Mutt seemed to be mulling something over when there came an alert to his phone, startling her. Pressing a button, he read over the message he just received.

“m’lord says things settled down. the store’s even giving him a discount as an apology.”

“You’re kidding me!”

He shrugged, texting back, “told you; you not being there made things a lot less complicated.” He looked up at her, “ready to get back to the others?”

“Is that a wise thing to do?” She said, taking a last mouthful of her drink.

“if you’re smart about it and go back to hiding in ashtray’s hood, and not sit on the loud, boisterous skeleton's shoulder where everyone can see you.” He replied, standing up before offering her a hand to sit on.

“You’ve got a hood too.” She pointed out as she sat back on his shoulder, looking back at the fluff on his jacket fridge and remembering her surprise when she realised both his and Red’s jackets did indeed have hoods.

Mutt glanced over at her, cocking an eyebrow in surprise, “you wanna sit with me?”

“Yeah…I guess I do.” She smiled over at him, “I’d like the chance to see the world from your perspective, if I can.”

He didn’t reply as he walked away and back towards the store they had been in.

He did, however, eventually flip his hood up.

“Thanks Mutt.”

He shrugged.

“….I’m not just talking about letting me sit on your shoulder.” She said, quietly.

She felt his shoulders stiffen under her, even if he gave no outward signs of her words having any sort of impact on him.

“We don’t have to talk about it, ever, but I did want to say at least thank you. I’m still not sure what happened, but I am grateful for whatever it was that you did, for whatever reason you bothered.”

“…………..you’re so fucking weird, half-pint.”

 

Next Chapter is called: It was a dark and stormy night


	19. It was a Dark and Stormy Night

_Note from the Author:_

_If you’re looking for a scare, then try reading this late at night, with the lights off and silence around you, preferably alone. Really imagine that this is you and place yourself fully in the moment._

_…..And if you hate being scared, then just do the exact opposite of what I just said =)_

Y/n was playing some fighting video game, one stormy night, with Blueberry and Black. It was after dinner and Stretch could be seen lounging on one of the other, brand new couches she had brought and had delivered days ago. Everyone else was somewhere about in the house, each doing their own thing as the storm closed in on them. It had been a few days after the mall trip and after everyone helped Black and Mutt move their new purchases into their house, and things seemed to have fallen into place since then. The larger table had just enough spare spaces so everyone wasn’t crowded, and meals were eaten by all as everyone talked with each other (some more than others, but that was to be expected, what with the different personalities they all had).

Of course, the one thing they all refused to talk about was the upcoming blind trip she had agreed to go on the first night Black and Mutt moved in. No amount of pleading, begging, joking or subtle attempts could make any one of them reveal anything else. She had been told to bring just about every article of clothing she had, but she suspected that was more to throw her off the scent of what was actually planned. The bitty car seat that had been brought hinted that they planned to leave the house, but she already knew that. In the end, Y/n had to accept that, no matter how she pleaded, she would have to wait for the fast approaching weekend and wait to see for herself, guessing any number of things that it could possibly be.

In the meantime, she gladly settled for some good old video games again (now that she had someone who could hit the power button and access the game drive to put in the games themselves).

“You are Dead!” announced the video game narrator as Y/n won the round against Blueberry.

Black looked back from the window he had been gazing bored out of, his smile brightening. “FINALLY! MY TURN!”

“NOT FAIR!” Blueberry complained even as he passed over the controller, “YOU HAD ME TRAPPED IN THE CORNER Y/N!”

“That one round! Besides, you were taking advantage of the fact that I can’t hit the jump button that quickly.” She grinned, gesturing to the controller that was, in no way, made for someone her size, “So, all things being equal, I say we’re more than evenly matched.”

“QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING!” Black complained, sitting up from his bored lounge on the third couch he had claimed for himself, “AND WATCH A PRO GAMER PLAY!”

“Still can’t believe you play video games, Black.” She grinned as they selected their characters.

Black grinned slyly over at her, “THERE’S A LOT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME, PET…EVEN IF I AM FORCED TO PLAY THIS INFIEOR CONSOLE MACHINE.”

Y/n rolled her eyes and managed to use Black’s boasting distraction to deliver the first punch, which quickly made him fight properly. They were well into the match and both enjoying the heated fight, when, suddenly, all of their phones sounded off with alerts.

Black ignored him as Stretch and Blueberry quickly pulled out their phones. Stretch was up in an instant as Blueberry looked over at his brother, obviously worried and equally alarmed.

“BROTHER-?”

In the next instance, Mutt appeared behind Black’s couch even as Papyrus and Edge came running down the stairs.

“What’s going on??” Y/n asked, looking away from a game that both she and Black had abandoned by this point.

Before anyone had a chance to answer her, the basement door slammed open and Sans and Red came barreling out and running towards the gathering of skeletons in the living room. She had never seen Sans (or indeed any of them) look this alarmed and fearful before.

“they’re gone!” Sans exclaimed, pacing before the others as Red stood behind him, his fits clenching on his crossed arms.

“we figured.” Stretch said, waving his phone, “where would they go?”

Sans clutched at his skull, “undyne, alphys, the kid.” He stopped and looked up and around at all of them. “and that’s assuming he plans to go after them at all! he could easily just start attacking random humans and monsters, hoping to draw me out!”

“Who-?” Y/n began asking fearfully before Edge over spoke her.

“SURELY YOU MUST HAVE SOME IDEA!” He asked, crossly.

“yeah, well i don’t!” Sans snapped, the bags under his eyes looking so much deeper now as a distant sound of thunder rumbled in the background.

“I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT!” Black glanced around at the others, “THAT PLACE HAD NOTHING BUT CAMERAS! YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT WE CAN’T NARROW DOWN THE POSSIBLE TARGETS?”

“you think this happenin’ when a huge storm hits the area was a coincidence?” Red asked, grimacing, “vanilla and i watched the playback as the fucker winked up at one of the cameras just as the power was knocked out by a lightenin' strike. they were both gone by the time the generators kicked back in.”

“MAY-MAYBE THEY’RE STILL THERE?” Blueberry said, hopefully.

“wouldn’t count on it, bro.” Stretch said, coming over to pat his shoulder.

“B-BUT HE LIKES TO PLAY JOKES.” Blueberry pointed out, nodding to Sans, “MAY-MAYBE THEY’RE JUST HIDING THERE? WAITING TO SCARE US WHEN WE COME BY?”

That didn’t make any of them look happier about the situation.

“we could be walking into an ambush.” Red growled, his eyes flicking over to Edge, who nodded.

“Guys!” Y/n called out, fearful, “Who’s going to ambush you?? Who are we talking about here?”

Sans stopped once again from his frantic pacing to look over at her still on the couch. His eyes flickered to everyone else in the room, who were looking at him, waiting to see what he would say.

“….someone dangerous. someone deranged.”

She opened her mouth to ask for more information, but he beat her to it. “y/n, i swear, i’ll tell you the whole story later, but right now people are in danger and we need to act fast. can you hold onto those questions for just a little bit longer, please?”

She closed her mouth and nodded, feeling so confused, hurt and scared right now.

“we need to split up.” Mutt said, speaking up and interrupting Sans and Y/n just staring at each other.

Sans took his conflicted, worried eyes away from her to nod at him, “yeah. till they’re found, we’re going to have to guard all the possible targets.”

“WHAT ABOUT HERE? ISN’T THE MACHINE THE BIGGEST TARGET?” Edge asked.

“they shouldn’t know where we are….unless?”

All eye lights turned to Black and Mutt.

Black scoffed, leaning back as he folded his arms, “I TOLD YOU, THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHERE YOU ARE OR HOW TO FIND YOU!”

“YOU DID!” Edge snapped, coming towards him, “WHAT’S TO STOP THEM-“

“BECAUSE I DESTROYED THE EVIDENCE I USED TO TRACK ALL OF YOU!” Black snapped back, taking a step towards Edge and glaring up at him, “YOU THINK I WANTED TO BLAZE A TRAIL TO THE MACHINE FOR THAT FREAK TO FOLLOW?!”

“black,” Sans sighed, exasperated, “if you just told us how you-“

“WHY?! BECAUSE YOU DON’T TRUST ME OR SO THAT YOU CAN COVER YOUR TRACKS BETTER NEXT TIME?” Black glared at the whole lot of them, “YOU’RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO TRUST ME! THEY HAVE NO WAY OF FINDING YOU OR THAT MACHINE!”

There was a strained pause.

“S-SOMEONE SHOULD STAY HERE.” Papyrus said, twisting his hands, “TO LOOK AFTER Y/N AND THE MACHINE. J-JUST IN CASE.”

“I WILL!” Said both Blueberry and Black at once, before turning to look at each other.

“YOU??” Black sneered, “IT SHOULD BE SOMEONE WHO CAN FIGHT, NOT A COWERING CHILD WHO REQUIRES HIS BROTHER TO BE FORMIDABLE!”

“I AM FORMIDABLE!” Blueberry snapped back, glaring at Black’s smugness, “HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPLAIN ME CONSTANTLY BEATING YOU DURING OUR MORNING WORKOUTS?!”

“WHY YOU-!”

“ENOUGH!” Edge snapped, standing between the two, “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHICH ONE OF YOU THINKS THEY’RE BETTER! NONE OF US SHOULD BE ALONE IF WE DO CONFRONT THEM!”

“and we’re already going to be spread pretty thin till one of us spots him.” Stretch added, looking grim.

“SO WE TAKE Y/N WITH US.” Blueberry said, looking around the room like it was the obvious solution, “THAT WAY WE CAN KEEP HER SAFE TOO! THE MACHINE SHOULD BE PERFECTLY SAFE, EVEN IF THEY DO MANAGE TO FIND THIS HOUSE.”

“AND WHAT’S YOUR PLAN IF YOU DO FIND HIM AND HIS BROTHER? RISK Y/N’S SAFETY?!” Edge growled at him.

“WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE HER HERE!” He replied, looking around at everyone else, “THE MACHINE IS THE PRIME TARGET, RIGHT? HE-HE MIGHT TRY USING Y/N TO OPEN THE DOOR OR SOMETHING!”

As everyone nodded their agreement to that assertion, even as Black scowled more. “I ALREADY TOLD YOU FOOLS; THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIND THIS PLACE! SHE'LL BE PERFECTLY SAFE HERE!”

Sans had been watching all of this, deep in thought, when suddenly he vanished from sight. Soon, however, he reappeared closer to her with her phone in hand. He passed this to her, before crouching on the ground, lowering himself to her eye level.

“y/n, we- i’m going to need to ask a favour from you. none of us knows how this is going to play out, but there’s no point in putting you in that possible danger too.” He took a deep sigh, before looking over at Black, “i think you will be safe here, but there’s no denying that this dangerous person has made his intentions of finding my machine very clear. that means, no matter how unlikely it seems, this place is still the prime target…and that means you could be in danger too.”

Black look like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded his agreement.

Sans turned to look at back her, placing a hand next to her gently, “i know several monsters who would gladly welcome you into their homes and keep you safe for however long it takes to find this guy again.”

Y/n felt the familiar feeling of her soul sink at the idea of leaving her home again, but her already anxious stomach twisted further at the idea of her friends being out there, in possible danger, while she just sat at some stranger’s place, waiting for news.

Sans clearly read something off her face because he moved his hand to cup behind her, his thumb rubbing comforting circles on her back, “y/n, it would only be for a few days at most. w-would you at least consider leaving?”

“B-but, what about this place?” She looked around to see that everyone had gathered to watch her and Sans, “Shouldn’t someone stay here to make sure this guy doesn’t show up here? To be on the outlook here and to call you if he does show up here?”

A few of them looked thoughtfully at the idea even as Sans shook his head, “i’ve placed a few cameras outside. add to the fact that i’ll expand the anti-magic field and the basement’s been reinforced better than some bank vaults, and that machine isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even if he does come here.”

“Sans,” She looked away from him and around at everyone, seeing the same tension across everyone's faces, “I don’t want to leave. Not if I can stay here and be another fail-safe for you.”

“y/n-“

“You think I would be better sitting somewhere else, worried?” She smiled gently, “I’ll feel better being here, keeping an ear open. If he does come here, I’ll just hide and text you.”

Papyrus’s phone sounded off as Sans and Y/n searched each other’s expression, both worried for the other. Pulling out his phone and reading the message, he looked up at Sans, his expression fearful.

“UNDYNE JUST ASKED ME IF I KNOW WHY YOU WERE PEERING AT HER THROUGH THE WINDOW.”

Edge strolled quickly over to Red and grabbed his shoulder before the two of them just vanished from sight.

“IT COULD BE A PLOY.” Black growled, flexing his fingers.

“no doubt.” Sans stood up, looking at him and Mutt, “you two keep an eye on alphys, she normally works in the new lab till late. if it is a ploy, you’ll see him next.”

Black nodded as Mutt grabbed his shoulder before the two of them were gone too.

Sans turned to Stretch and Blueberry, “that leaves the kid for you two. know where they live?”

“OF COURSE!” Blueberry said, straightening his shoulders as Stretch patted his shoulder.

Rather than disappear as the others had done, Stretch looked to Sans, concerned, “and what will you be doing?”

“keeping my ear on the ground while checking out a few locations.” Sans looked grim as Papyrus placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which Sans automatically placed his hand on top of, “if he’s looking for a one-on-one, i’ve got an inkling where he might be.”

“you’re not planning anything stupid or heroic, are ya vanilla?” Stretch asked, watching him carefully.

Sans shook his head, “nah, but if i can figure out what changed or even make him see reason this time, then i do plan to talk to him before i call everyone.” He chuckled bitterly, “sixty-seventh’s the charm, right?”

“AND IF YOU DON’T CALL THE OTHERS, BROTHER, I WILL.” Papyrus said sternly, nodding to Stretch and Blueberry, “I DON’T WANT EITHER OF YOU TO HURT EACH OTHER, NO MATTER WHAT!”

Stretch nodded firmly, then was gone with Blueberry.

Sighing, Sans got to his feet and cast one final look at her with Papyrus.

Y/n stared up them, mirroring the worry and concern of the last two brothers facing her.

“Stay safe.” she asked of them, hoping they didn't need to.

“you too, y/n.” Sans nodded to her phone, “keep that with you at all times and call if anything weird happens.”

She nodded, and soon, they were gone too.

Feeling so worried and unnerved about this whole situation, Y/n’s mind was reeling. Who was this dangerous person that she was only now hearing about for the first time? It sounded like it was a pair of brothers, but there was no doubting that only one of them that gave the others pause….where these the ‘freaks’ that Black referred to on that first night she met him? A pair of brothers at the old place these guys had come from?

But, if they lived together, then surely he couldn’t be that dangerous to her friends, right? That had to mean there was at least a brief period of time when they were all living in somewhat peacefully and cooperatively together….even if that was clearly wasn’t the case now.

And the machine! What was it?? What did it do and why would someone be after it like this?

Sans said it was legal and safe. He called it ‘one-of-a-kind’, ‘highly advance experimental technology’, and something he was trying to fix….but he never said what it did. He had purposefully avoided answering that question. At the time, with how things had been between them back then, Sans had offered to answer that question, but it had been clear to her that he hadn’t wanted to tell her in so much as he felt like he owed her the truth. She had declined to know then because, despite how vague he had been about what the machine did exactly, it was obvious that the machine was an emotionally sore spot for him.

A source of shame and pain.

The last thing she wanted was to him to feel like he had been forced to tell her. Sans had assured her that the machine was safe and legal, and that was enough for her back then.

Afterwards? Well, a lot of things had changed and the brief moments that things had settled back down didn’t allow her much of a chance to look back and wonder if she should have that conversation with Sans now or not.

To distract herself for her questions she couldn’t answer and her feelings she couldn’t address right now, Y/n turned back to her game and selected the story mood after quitting her’s and Black’s abandoned match. It helped; having something else to focus on kept her from worrying too much or glancing at the phone as often. Beyond her worries and fear for her friends, she felt frustrated that her size had, once again, kept her from doing something she would have otherwise have done. If she was big, she would have insisted she be allowed to come along with them, maybe stake out one of the targets. She could sit there for long hours doing nothing if need be, and whoever this guy was, he didn’t know who she was or-

 

***!!!BOOOOM!!!***

Y/n screamed as a lighting strike hit something very important and close by outside. Even as she lay on the couch, a hand over her racing heart, she watched as the lights in the houses flickered and made electrical distressed buzzing sounds. A high, whining, screeching mechanical noise that vibrated the ground underfoot, came from what she could only assume was the basement below. While this was all happening, the game’s game over screen and narrator were both glitching and stuttering in a fear-inducing, seemingly never-ending loop as the flickering lights played across the malfunctioning screen.

_“YOU ARE DEAD!” The narrator’s voice screamed at her, “YOU ARE DEAD! YOU ARE! DEAD! ARE DEAD! YOU! YOU! YOU! ARE! DEAD! DEAD! DEAD ARE! ARE DEAD! ARE YOU! ARE YOU DEAD! ARE YOU! YOU! ARE! YOU ARE DEAD! DEAD! **DEEAAAAADDddd!!!** ”_

Then, as one, all the electricity seemed to bleed away, leaving all the lights, the whirling underfoot and the screen to fade out and into silent.

Leaving it just Y/n and the darkness.

To say she was spooked was an understatement.

“Get a hold of yourself.” She laughed nervously to herself, patting down the couch to establish to herself that yes, this was reality. She had never heard or seen the house do that when they lost power before, but then again, that strike was by far the closest that the house had ever been hit by. She wouldn’t be surprised if the house had actually been hit.

Still, Y/n figured that Sans should know, even if it was just a really unluckily strike both with its timing and target. With the odd flash and crack coming from the electrical storm outside, Y/n crawled over to her phone and activated the screen. After checking that her batter was full and wondering how long it would have to last before the power kicked back in, she sent off her text message.

 **Pranster LL:** We just lost power here.

 **Boner:** are you alright?

 **Pranster LL:** I’m fine. You?

 **Boner:** still looking. just lay low and keep quiet, okay? don’t go to the windows and don’t light anything up if you don’t have to. if fact, just go to bed or pretend no one’s home.

 **Pranster LL:** …..that has to be the most generic, horror movie advice you could have possibly given me Sans.

 **Boner:** i’m being serious here y/n.

 **Pranster LL:** Fair enough. Stay safe Sans.

 **Boner:** you too y/n. pls, avoid the windows and drawing any attention to yourself, okay?

Feeling somewhat coddled now, she tried to be patient with Sans, even if she was starting to feel like she was being had here.

 **Pranster LL:** I’ll try.

 **Boner:** ty, y/n.

Smiling, she turned her screen off and looked out the window, watching the storm.

_‘Now what?’_

Before she had a chance to answer that, there came a very distinct yet familiar laugh from the distant front of the house.

_“NYEH HEH HEH!”_

“Papyrus?” Y/n said out loud, climbing up to the couch's backrest to look towards the laughter’s direction.

It sounded like Papyrus, but different? Maybe it was the distance that was distorting it….The better question was why she was hearing Papyrus here when he was supposed to be with Sans.

As she pounded this and wondered if it was worth texting Papyrus to ask when he was outside, she slowly became aware of a shadow moving steadily from window to window out of the corner of her eye, making its way towards the backyard. Looking quickly at it, Y/n saw a flash of a familiar blue hoodie pulled up as familiar bony smile peeking out in the brief flash of lighting that illuminated these features before returning them back to a featureless shadow.

“S-Sans?” She called out.

Sans stopped at a window as thunder sounded off overhead. Y/n watched as his shoulders began to move up and down and he began to chuckle just like how normally did. Only, this chuckle was a twisted form of the chuckle she knew so well. It was the type that, rather than draw others in to laugh along with it, made people fear for their own safety.

It was the laughter of a broke, twisted mind.

In the next instance, Sans threw himself against the window, startling a shriek from her as his bony face and hand collided sharply against the glass. A single blood red eye about the size of a pinprick of light quivered in his eye socket, staring at her, bathing his impossible wide smile in red light. Another strike of lighting, another scream from her, and by the time Y/n turned back to look at the window, he was gone.

Leaving nothing but an empty window with claw marks cut into and across the glass.

Y/n’s heart was pounding in her chest as her breathing raced with it. She nearly toppled off the couch when there came a knocking on the front door.

“IS SOMEONE IN THERE?” Papyrus’s voice called out after the knocking stopped.

Confused and fearful, Y/n found her voice was caught in her throat, keeping her from replying or crying out in fear. As she struggled to control her shaking hands and kept glancing at her phone, trying to will herself to move to it, the knocking started up again.

Only, this time, it grew louder and louder, with each banging sounding like it wearing away at the wood, locks and hinges keeping the door in place.

Almost like someone was trying to bash their way in.

*Bang, bang, bang! Thump, thump!! **Cr~unch!***

Toppling off the couch at the sound of what could only be the door breaking open, Y/n hit the floor and immediately hid under the couch, making her way quickly to rest on top of one of the wooden support beams on its underside. Desperate to control her breathing and shaking, Y/n heard as the front door was then slammed into a wall amidst the sound of wood splintering and breaking further apart. Then there was silence, followed by the slow, echoing sound of huge boots striding into the house.

“AH! IT SEEMS YOU WERE RIGHT SANS! QUICKLY NOW; LET’S GET THIS OVER AND DONE WITH!”

That was Papyrus! That was his voice! Why was he putting on a slight lisp when he talked, she didn’t know, but there was no mistaking that voice. What were Sans and Papyrus doing?? Why did they break in the door and why were they trying to scare her?? Had this all been some elaborate setup for a prank? Tell her some story of a dangerous guy and see if she brought it??

Or, were these the two brothers the others were out looking for??

The odds of them just happening to sound and look like the Sans and Papyrus she knew (with what she could only assume were the same names as well now) was just insane! It had to be Sans and Papyrus, right??

Y/n had no clue what she thought any more, but if she found out this was some prank, than they were all taking the joke too far! …..But if not, then she was in danger and so was that machine. Until she knew for sure, she needed to continue to hide and try to calm down. The first chance she got, she knew she had to make it back to her phone.

It was all she could do to keep from gasping in fear as she heard someone enter the living room, their steps muffled by the carpet.

“i know you’re in here.” Sans’s voice called out softly with a hint of a grin to it, lightning crackling in the background, “come on out, little bitty. i have a few questions for ya.”

Y/n stayed absolutely still and silent.

After a while, she strained to see anything in the dark to watch as he began to walk around the room. Only the odd flash of liting helped her see pink slippers with red stains on them moving about the room as Sans took his time, searching thoroughly. Holding her breath, she heard him grab her phone from the couch above her and read over her messages. She could do nothing as she heard him tapping away on her phone, before presumably sending off a message. With no idea on the nature of the text he just sent or to whom, she could do nothing as this possibly Sans/possibly the threat continued his search for her.

At first, he seemed content to merely lift up pillows and look behind things. His pace was slow and methodical as he searched, an occasional chuckle here and there. There would be times where he would just stand still for long periods of time, the sound of bone tapping bone ringing out in between the thunderclaps. The worst was how he would always come back to the couch, stopping closer and ever closer to where she was hiding each time.

Suddenly, in what seemed to be a sudden burst of anger, he kicked over the coffee table into the far wall. Flinching and stifling her scared gasp, Y/n continued to watch as he just stood there again, the sound of bone tapping against bone once more ringing out.

After a while, he just left, heading for the stairs.

She waited and listened as each step squeaked as he climbed up and away. Only when she couldn’t hear him anymore did she feel safe to drop to the carpet.

Staring at her shaking her hands, Y/n panicked about what she was going to do next! She needed to grab her phone, then get her backpack from her house upstairs for the tools, but he was up there! Okay, th-then she needed to find somewhere to hold up, somewhere safer than this-

Wh-why could she see her hands?

Slowly, Y/n looked over her shoulder bathed in red light as she saw Sans’s face peering at her under the couch. Her sole focus was on the red eye light that was expanding than contracting, quivering violently in his eye socket, that bathed her and his cruel smile in blood red.

“hello kid.”

A bony hand lashed out and grabbed her painfully and tightly as fingers quickly curled about and crushed her, before dragging her slowly out into the open. Gasping in fear and pain, Y/n struggled to get free as she cried out to him. “Sans-!”

Sans ignored her as he got to his feet and walked towards the dark kitchen. Whatever she was going to say was lost as she saw what his hood was hiding with another flash of lighting from outside.

Th-the top of Sans’s skull was cracked open wide; a large section of it was just gone with what remained ending in sharp, jagged pieces. H-how he was still alive after receiving such a fatal-looking wound was anyone’s guess.

The sound of something rustling about in the kitchen became clearer as Sans entered it, his grip on her still crushing her ribs and squeezing her lungs. A skeleton with protruding spine bones poking out from a ruined costume of some sort and a frayed scarf around his neck was digging around in a low kitchen drawer, barely visible in the night’s darkness.

“look at what i found bro.” Sans said, holding her up to this skeleton.

Y/n watched as the skeleton straightened slowly, before turning to tower over her and Sans. He-he was taller by far than any of the skeletons she knew. This giant of a shadow leaned in closer for a better look of her, his face hidden in the dark even as the smell of feted decay and blood clung to both of these skeletons, with it coming off stronger with this skeleton in particular.

Another flash of lighting, however, briefly showed his face to her in full, and she couldn't help but take a terrified gasp.

It was Papyrus, but horribly disfigured. His huge smile was filled instead with teeth that were crooked, often jagged or just missing, each tooth stained in red. Hevey bags hung under his eyes, rivalling any she had ever seen on Sans, Red, Stretch or Mutt, and the ever-present spark of excitement and joy was gone from his eyes now. What happened?? C-could monsters so easily change their bodies, on a whim?? Both of them looked like Sans and Papyrus, b-but the damage done to their bodies!? That had to be fake, right??

“AH! YOU FOUND THE BITSY, BROTHER!” This Papyrus cried out happily, grinning at her through his mouthful of teeth and a slight lisp.

She was shaken in Sans’s grip, who just grinned wider as a sob of pain escaped her, “i found myself a snack.”

Papyrus stood back up, brandishing what looked like a barbecue fork in the dark, “IT IS FAR TO SMALL TO BE WORTH THE EFFORT OF EATING IT NOW! TOSS IT BACK INTO THE WILD AND LET IT GROW INTO SOMETHING WORTH CAPTURING!”

Y/n’s mind went blank, struggling to accept that Papyrus had just said that. E-even for a prank…Papyrus??

Sans merely shrugged and walked over to the fridge and opened it. With the power still out, she couldn’t see what he was doing, but she did hear him digging around in it, before closing it once more.

Before she could process more, a cold, goopy slime that smelled strongly of tomatoes covered her, falling upon her head and oozing down her body. Wiping the goo from her face and fully panicking now as her senses began to become overwhelmed by everything, she felt boney finger pinch the back of her shirt and lift her up to Sans’s cruel smile and his single manic, vibrating red eye light.

“tell me what i want to know, snack, and i may consider not eating you.” he whispered to her as she dangled, strangled by her shirt’s collar, in the air.

Y/n couldn't respond; panic and fear had already robbed her of her ability to think, let alone respond.

Growling, Sans lifted her high and over his upturned face. **“talk!”**

She watched as his mouth open wide below her feet; a dark abyss lined with drool covered teeth and a dark blue tongue swimming in excessive drool.

Y/n could hear a high pitch white noise getting louder and louder. Her body started feeling numb and she barely acknowledged that the hand holding her was shaking her before she just fainted from the sheer stress and fear of it all.

~*~

“-maybe you don’t care what happens to her body.” Sans’s voice said cruelly from behind her, his hand squeezing her painfully, making her gasp weakly in pain.

The pain helped clear her head and throw off enough of the fainting spell so that she realised that she was back in the boney fist, there were some lights now, and that sound in the background was Papyrus and Blueberry sobbing.

_‘Papyrus? Blueberry? Crying?’_

Bearly, she opened her eyes with another groan of pain as the hand that held her shook her. Everything was still blurring together and it was hard to separate things as she hung limply in the hand. When she did manage to open her eyes, she squinted saw the others were back and packed tightly into the kitchen, facing her and the two skeletons holding her captive while various phones provided some light. Everyone had some sort of bone weapon out, everyone looked tense and enraged, but her eyes were on Papyrus and Blueberry weeping in grief.

“Guys?” She groaned, dimly aware that trying to wipe her eyes free of some sort red, tomato smelling goop remnants wasn’t possible as her arms were trapped by the hand that held her.

“Y/N!” Papyrus cried out to her, relief clear in his voice. “YOU’RE ALIVE!”

“did i forget to say?” Sans said with a grin in his tone behind her.

Sans in front of her and with the others stood forward, “last chance, axe.”

Y/n stared at him, then looked behind her to the Sans with the cracked head holding her.

“S-Sans?”

The Sans with the cracked skull grinned at her before looking back at the Sans in front of her, “looks like i’m not the only one you’ve kept certain information from, eh vanilla?”

“T-two Sanses?? What’s happening?? Wha- Argh!”

The hand holding her tightened painfully to the point of grinding her bones together, stopping her questions with a gasp of pain.

The others took a step towards her.

“keep coming closer.” His bony fingertip moved up to her neck, pressing on her windpipe, “let’s test to see if she’ll survive the next few minutes.”

They collectively took a step back, a combination of hatred and fear across their faces.

“IT’S SO STRANGE TO SEE ALL OF YOU WORKING TOGETHER!” The nightmarish version Papyrus behind her exclaimed happily and apparently indifferent to all the glares that were being thrown at him, “AND ALL OVER A BITSY TOO! PERHAPS WE SHOULD KEEP HER INSTEAD SANS!”

“perhaps we should.” The Sans holding her chuckled.

 **“axe!”** Sans in front of her snapped.

The Sans behind her (or Axe), wasn’t impressed by his tone. “then give me the code to the door, or watch little miss bitty take her last breath.”

There was a tense moment of silence. The type that normally came before a huge battle.

“Don’t do it!” Y/n called out to Sans, wincing in pain as Axe’s hand tightened on her body and throat once more.

Axe chuckled, “she’s an awfully brave, this one.” He moved his hand so that she face him instead, “you think i won’t kill you?”

"I think you're either dangerous or desperate to try using me as a hostage like this! *Gasp!* Neither of those things should be allowed close to whatever that machine does!"

“you don’t even know what it does?” Axe grinned, “what if i told you it was my machine and that vanilla was keeping me from?”

"It- *gasp!* it doesn’t matter. I won't let myself be used against my friends! A threat only works if your hostage plays along!"

“FRIENDS??” The impossible tall Papyrus behind Axe looked surprised, leaning in over his brother’s shoulder to look at her closely, “ARE ALL OF THEM YOUR FRIENDS?”

“Yes!”

“EVEN EDGE AND BLACK?? I FIND THAT VERY HARD TO BELIEVE!”

“Well, it’s true!” She swore truthfully.

The Papyrus with red stained teeth twiddled his fingers and looked shyly away, “CAN I BE YOUR FRIEND, MISS BITSY?”

That stopped her.

And she wasn’t the only one. “bro, not the time.” Axe growled as the rest of the household just stared on.

But this Papyrus wasn’t having it. One of his hands grabbed Axe’s wrist while the other one moved to catch her when Axe dropped her with a grunt of pain. Before she had any chance to leap for freedom, red-gloved hands were closed in on around her, trapping her in his hands and pressing her in on her.

“bro?” “CrOoKs!”

“SHE’S MY NEW BEST FRIEND!” Y/n felt lifted suddenly before something was rubbing on the outside of the gloves, “I HAVEN’T HAVE ONE IN A REALLY, REALLY LONG TIME!”

“SHE NEVER SAID YES, YOU OVERGROWN NIGHTMARE!” Black yelled at him.

“careful brat.” Axe growled back, his voice very low now.

The Papyrus holding her (Crooks??) didn’t seem to care. If anything, he sounded happier now.

“I KNOW SHE’S GOING TO BE MY FRIEND BECAUSE SHE’S ALREADY MY FRIEND! ISN’T THAT RIGHT ME?”

“I DON’T THINK THAT’S HOW IT WORKS?” Papyrus’s voice responded from a distance. “IT’S NOT AN AUTOMATIC THING….ME.”

The hands around her tightened, becoming painful again.

“I-I can’t be your friend if you’re threating my other friends or crush me!” She gasped out, struggling to get out. What she was assuming was ketchup covering her body was aiding her briefly, before Crooks’s hands pressed harder on her, crushing her now thoroughly bruised body.

“STOP TRYING TO ESCAPE, NEW BEST FRIEND!”

She stopped with her head now free, and fought to control the fear of being trapped to try reasoning with him instead. “If-if you really want to be my friend, th-then you’ve got to let me go.”

“WHY WOULD I DO THAT?” He asked, looking genuinely curious.

“Be-because it’s what friends do?”

Crooks gasped, “B-BUT I CAN’T RISK THAT! YOU’D RUN OFF SOMEWHERE! HOW WOULD I EVER FIND YOU AGAIN??”

“I promise, I-I won’t run away.”

“REALLY? YOU PROMISE?”

“Y-yes?”

He seemed to be thinking about it carefully before his expression brightened and he took away the hand that was crushing her down. As she slowly pushed herself up, she kept her eyes locked on his broken, beaming smile.

“HELLO THERE!” He greeted her, “I HAVEN’T PROPERLY INTRODUCED MYSELF YET, NEW BEST FRIEND!” He posed, “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT EVERYONE CALLS ME CROOKS!”

“H-hello Crooks. I’m Y/n.” She replied, looking quickly back at all her friends for any indication on what she should be doing now.

Before they could communicate anything, however, Axe had pulled the hand she was sitting up on down to his eye level, his one eye fixing her with a piercing stare.

“if you break that promise to my bro, i’ll bite off both your legs. got it?”

The look he was giving her left no room of doubt that he meant every single bit of that threat. Feeling a chill down to her very soul, Y/n nodded and stayed put.

“YAY! I NOW HAVE SOMEONE WE CAN TAKE BACK HOME TO TALK TO INSTEAD OF DEALING WITH THE CRIPPLING LONELINESS THAT ISOLATION MAKES ME FEEL EVERY DAY!” Crooks happily said.

Axe eye shrank to a pinprick as his hand crept up and began to tug at the socket she had yet to see any eye light in as her friends looked on in guilt or indifference.

“W-why are you alone?” She asked, still tense and fearful over this situation but finding that hearing him admit to such dark feelings made her sympathetic towards him, despite herself.

It was better than being threatened with her legs being chewed off or focusing on the fact that she was very much on one side of a two-sided battle about to happen at any moment.

“THE OTHERS LEFT.” Crooks gestured a hand vaguely to the others, “EVEN BEFORE THEY ALL MOVED OUT, THINGS WERE HORRIBLE AT THAT PLACE, BUT AT LEAST THEY WERE THERE. WITH EVERYONE GONE, WELL, THINGS QUICKLY GOT QUITE AND LONELY.”

“you know why we had to move out.” Sans said, speaking to Crooks but keeping his eyes on Axe, “and you know why you two weren’t allowed to move in with us. i-i begged you to take my suggestion and see the world; i would have paid for everything!”

“and what a colossal waste of time that would be,” Axe growled, meeting Sans stare with contempt, “when we won’t even get to remember it in the end, eh vanilla?”

Sans met that stare with his own uncomfortable glare as the room fell silent, both sides eyeing each other down.

“SO, AS YOU CAN SEE, THAT’S WHY WE’RE ALONE!” Crooks said happily, indifferent to the hostile tension in the room.

“Wh-what if you moved-“

“no.”

Y/n glanced over at Sans, who briefly looked away from glaring at Axe to look at her. “y/n, these two, this guy in particular,” Axe’s grin curled even more at that, “are the dangerous brothers we were out looking for. the brothers we feared would go after people we know, to hurt them.”

“but beyond that, we’re free to go and do wherever we want.” Axe chuckled darkly, pulling at his empty eye-socket.

Sans ignored him to look towards her direction, “axe wants nothing more than to destroy my machine. that would… seriously jeopardise a lot of lives.”

“What about Crooks?” She asked, looking up at him and seeing an in, “Do you want to hurt people or destroy Sans’s machine?”

“ME?” Crooks eyes looked away from her over to his brother before looking back to her, now looking guilty, “I-I….ALL I EVER WANTED WAS FRIENDS AGAIN.” He rubbed the back of his head, looking downtrodden, “IT’S BEEN A REALLY LONG TIME SINCE I HAD ONE OF THOSE.”

“you can have all the friends you want paps as soon as that machine is destroyed.” Axe growled through clenched teeth.

“I-I KNOW THAT, I GUESS,….BUT THAT DOESN’T STOP ME BEING LONELY TODAY OR TOMORROW, OR HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES FOR ONE OF OUR PLANS TO WORK.”

“Wh-what if you lived here?” Y/n said slowly, her heart aching for this giant while seeing a path to what she hoped was a peaceful resolution for everyone, “Y-you could build a house here, like Black and Mutt did, and be a part of everything here.”

“WOULD YOU BE MY FRIEND HERE?” Crooks asked, lifting her to his wide, broken grin.

“I-if you promised to not destroy Sans’s machine or hurt anyone ever.”

“CAN MY BROTHER LIVE HERE TOO?” He begged desperately.

“……If he promised the same thing.”

“DEAL!” Crooks agreed quickly, shoving his hand in her face to shake on the deal.

“paps-!” Axe growled, even as Y/n awkwardly shook the giant’s hand.

Crooks spoke over him, “I’M TIRED OF ALL THE FIGHTING AND I’M TIRED OF BEING ALONE! I DON’T WANT TO RETURN TO THAT OLD PLACE AND IF SHE CAN BE FRIENDS WITH EDGE AND BLACK, I’M SURE SHE CAN BE FRIENDS WITH YOU BROTHER!” He beamed at Axe, his eyes hopeful, “HOW ABOUT WE TRY BEING NICE FOR A WHILE?”

Axe stared back at his brother in disbelief for a moment, before shrugging and smiling lazily. “sure, why not? let’s give that a shot, shall we?”

In the next instance, Y/n as being held in a fist again as Crooks threw his arms around his brother, picking him and spin hugging the pair of them.

“I’M REALLY, REALLY HAPPY BROTHER!” Crooks exclaimed, sounding like he was on the edge of tears.

From her position in Crooks’s fist, she watched as Axe’s face softened as he affectionally patted his brother’s back. “then i’m glad bro.”

For Y/n, this was all so surreal that only the pressure on her bruised body was convincing enough to keep her from thinking this was all some bizarre, horrifying dream.

Eventually, Crooks placed Axe gently back on the ground, before pressing Y/n herself to his chest as he hugged her.

“THANK YOU BITSY! THANK YOU!”

“Y-you’re welcome.” She wheezed out, feeling like her ribs were either breaking or now bent inwards so much to the point of no return, “But you’re crushing me right now!”

“OH, I’M SORRY!” Crooks exclaimed, quickly pulling her always and leaving her stumbling over on his now flat hand.

Holding her ribs, she smiled tightly up at his beaming smile as she patted his gloved hand, before looking back to her stunned friends (who could not believe their eyes at what just happened.).

“Now, can someone please explain to me why there are two Sans and Papyrus, and why you look so much alike yet….different?”

 

Next chapter is called: Cogs in the machine.

 

**FanART**

(It's been so long! If I don't have your name here, I've forgotten or I didn't get it)

 **WolfGirl** \- [Drawings AND a vid???](https://shibe-inu.tumblr.com/post/181409528966/hskjldsafc-its-time-i-made-some-sketches-of-two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! New Update and I'm still doing in role rping on my Discord server as any and every character I've got across all my stories, so if you wanted to know what some skeleton would say or respond to whatever action or thing you might say to them, hit me up using the @Rnd_Injustice thing (check out the rules if you need help) and I honestly shouldn't be more than a day or two responding.
> 
> Answering these is super fun for me, helps me flesh out all of these guys and makes me feel like the Discord actually serves a purpose. Beyond that, it's a free for all and open to everyone, so pop in (if you're so inclined)

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update at least once a month, the first Saturday. Enjoy =)  
> Check me out on my Discord Server for in character, Role Playing (rp) responses as any and every character I've got across all my stories, so if you wanted to know what some skeleton would say or respond to whatever action or thing you might say to them, hit me up using the @Rnd_Injustice thing (check out the rules if you need help) and I honestly shouldn't be more than a day or two responding.
> 
> My Discord Server= https://discord.gg/cg4p4ps  
> My tumblr account = https://rnd-injustice.tumblr.com  
> Please, ask me any questions and just have fun guys! 
> 
>  
> 
> As always, I dedicated this story to Tyrant Tortoise and her story, Skelton Squatters and the Land Lady. For every nice thing I read about my dumb stories, just realise that, without her, they would still be on my computer.  
> Ty, you will forever rock.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Scared Out of Our Skin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13845987) by [CallMeKeef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeKeef/pseuds/CallMeKeef)
  * [Bitty Hunt Shenanigans](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14835585) by [Rnd_Injustice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rnd_Injustice/pseuds/Rnd_Injustice)




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